The Three Rs You Should Be Teaching Your Children
/As parents, there are many things we need to be teaching our children. Today, I’m sharing the Three Rs you should be teaching your children. And no, these are not what you think. Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic is necessary to get ahead in life. But every youngster should be taught respect, responsibility, and resourcefulness.
As a kindergarten teacher, I’m seeing a lot of things in parenting methods that scare me. No discipline, spoiling children because of cultural traditions, and belittling of children are the problems I see at the moment. These are all serious and damaging methods. While I can’t do much about discipline in my classroom other than taking away something enjoyable. I can teach these three Rs to my students.
THREE RS YOU SHOULD BE TEACHING YOUR CHILDREN
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Respect – children need to respect other individuals and their things. From an early age, children need to be trained how to show R-E-S-P-E-C-T. Parents, catch the disrespectful attitude and put an end to it; don’t turn a blind eye and ignore the issue. Put an end to disrespectful actions and words your kids have at an early age.
Showing respect to authority is a must. (Hebrews 13:17) When a child grows up without being taught to show respect to those over them, they will be the ones we see on the nightly news. Employers will not tolerate disrespect from an employee. Your adult children will be fired from a job if they cannot show respect to those in authority.
I have a classroom rule for respect. We respect ourselves, others, and our school.
Responsibility – taking responsibility for one’s actions shows maturity. Playing the blame game is a childish act, and it is even more horrible to watch adults play this game. Children need to be taught to own up to their actions, not deny, lie, or blame others. They need to take responsibility. A sign of immaturity – someone who will not take responsibility for their actions.
I have a classroom rule for responsibility. We take responsibility (own up to) for everything we do.
Resourcefulness - the ability to find and use available resources to achieve goals. We live in a day where everything is now at our fingertips. This can be a good thing, but it can also be bad. Doing things for our children and not allowing them to learn how to do something is not teaching them to be resourceful. Resourcefulness is something that is taught through experiences.
Life skills are just one of many ways to learn to be resourceful.
While I don’t have a classroom rule for resourcefulness, it is something I work on daily with my students.
THREE RS YOU SHOULD BE TEACHING YOUR CHILDREN
If I had to choose a fourth “R”, I would choose Resolution.
Resolution – determination. Over all the years of teaching school, I have seen many children who did not stick with something because it was too hard or they lost interest. For some, they were taken to the ball field, dance studio, Karate class, etc. every night of the week. Instead of focusing on one activity and mastering it, it allows children to be spread too thin and if something doesn’t work out, they can quit it before even finishing a season.
Children need to be trained to be determined, not to give up when life gets hard. Stick with decisions and or activities/jobs they choose until there is an appropriate time to leave it.
Be an example for your children. They learn by following you. Be respectful, be responsible, be resourceful, and be resolute.
Do you have an “R” you would add to my list of Three R’s You Should Be Teaching Your Children?
Books on Parenting you may find helpful:
Shepherding a Child's Heart by Tedd Tripp
Don't Make Me Count to Three by Ginger Hubbard
Love and Respect in the Family by Dr. Emerson Eggerichs
The 5 Love Languages of Children by Gary Chapman and Ross Campbell
