What Habits Will Your Children Learn from You?
September 18th, 2008
Time and again psychologists, doctors, teachers, and parents have proven that children learn by example. Yes, there are a number of traits people just seem to be born with, and yes kids are curious and will inadvertently make poor decisions - but there is a good reason for looking to the parents when a child turns into a particular person.
The Wisdom Journal discussed this idea in terms of finances and made many great points I thought.
One that I notice a lot in my own life is that children either “model” or “react” to their parents behavior. For instance, if you father always watched football all weekend you may model that habit for the rest of your life; on the contrary, if your parents never let you turn on the air conditioning because it was too expensive you might later see this as a luxury that you can afford and purposely turn it down extra low just to make up for all those years of not having it.
Another though provoking question brought up in their post was to think about how your lifestyle communicates to your children about your values, because many children have a difficult time separating what they need from what they want. It is the parents job to help them understand the difference and many children never get to learn this important lesson.
Posted in Family
