I’ll come out and say I’m not a religious person. I’d suggest spiritual but that’s as far as I’d go. I believe in belief but I have an issue with people trying to enforce their belief on other people. I say this because some people would argue that religion is the only route to morality and I’d vehemently disagree with this. Whether we raise out children to be religious or not is really up to us, what’s important is that we know what kinds of traits we want to instil in our children and that we work hard to make sure that as they grow they learn to embrace these traits.
The first step here is making a list that of the best features your child could possibly have. This can be tricky but we’ve put together a guide to help you out!
- Start off by writing down a list of standards which are important to you, things that you think are important to life and the ability to connect and maintain relationships with other people. Some examples here would be, loyalty, respect, kindness, honesty etc.
- Now look at people who you aspire towards, role-models or all-round good eggs who’ve shown their goodness. Ask yourself, what principles and values do those people have which have led them to be who they are today? Add those things to your list.
- Speak with friends, family and loved ones. Talk to anyone you’ve got reason to trust or respect and ask them what values and traits are the most important in their lives and why. Add these to your list if you think they’re applicable.
- Talk to your kids and see what they think. Ask if there are any values or features which they’ve seen in other people and think are good. Add these to your list.
- Read through your list and put the traits and values into order of what you deem the most important. Remove any you see as frivolous and make sure to cut the list down to a manageable number. Between 5-10 would be good to start with, you can then work to instil these things into your children and perhaps over time they’ll become as deeply rooted as you want them to be!
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