Parents noticed and acknowledged the need for their child to have the right values and to be responsible for their life and action. It is important to instill good morals in our children so that they will be able to protect themselves from negative influences in the future and be a good citizen of our society because there are so many negative influences in the world nowadays, and having it easily accessible from the entertainment industry especially through the Internet, television, movies, video games and music.
But how do we provide that lesson to teach them towards that?
1. Communicate with your child
Teach your child and have frequent small talks about what is right and wrong, and what constitutes a good or/and bad behavior. If you do this often, this will become a normal routine daily life talk with no stress or whatsoever about the topic. Your child will be open to chatting with you with what they see or experience in their daily life. Be open and share your experiences with your child too.
2. Model good value
Model good value in front of your child. Parents are their best role models. Having seen you doing it (setting the example), your child will follow most of the time and indirectly you are teaching them what is good value.
3. Encourage and applaud your child for good behavior
As a parent, demonstrate how you help others and display a positive behavior. Your child will naturally pick up what you did and learn it along the way.Get involved in volunteer work, keep a look out on people who needs help and encourage your child to help them out. You will be really amazed at how helpful your little one can be and how happy he/she feels after helping someone who needs it and further motivates them to do the same in the future.
It is NOT tough to teach your child about empathy and the value of giving back. Best of all, the Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA) has even initiated the ‘Start Small Dream Big’ (SSDB). It is an initiative where it encourages pre-schools to create authentic platforms for children to innovate, problem-solve and tap on their unique strengths to help others. Its aim is to build an early childhood community that inculcates good values in our children and encourages them to give back to society.
We were honoured to be at their launch of the initiative this year. They had a carnival held at The Salvation Army Territorial Headquarters, where it featured games and crafts stations – all made out of recycled materials.
Of course, we had our little game stall made out of recycling materials too! We made used of cardboard boxes to make a soccer table and Labyrinth game (not sure if this is considered one).
The children were so excited to start the game and while they were on it, they were so so so focus!
Even the teachers were engrossed in the games.
It was a fun-filled day with loads of activities to entertain both the children and the adults. Everyone was involved in making this event happened. Just like what this initiative has mentioned:
“No one can do everything, but everyone can do something.”
For more information, do check out the virtual message from Minister for Social and Family Development, Mr Tan Chuan-Jin, to welcome all participants of SSDB 2017!
For more read, check out the Straits Times News.