Respect
As parents, we are responsible for teaching our kids how to treat others the way we want to be treated. When we begin this lesson we teach kids respect for others. Studies show that children as young as 2-3 years old are able to empathize with others. Kids can pick up on the fact that others have emotions & experiences different from their own and their natural inclination is to want to help soothe other’s feelings of fear, sadness or pain.
Modeling respect creates a safe space for our children within our own homes. When our kids feel that they are respected by us as parents, they feel safe to share their feelings, fears and failures. This doesn’t mean we’ll never have arguments. We just do so in a safe environment and they’ll be more inclined to open up because they know that their parents’ feelings are secure.
Before we can teach our children respect, we got to examine our own level of respect for ourselves and others.
Am I:
Quick to criticize others?
Quick to become angry?
Quick to yell infant of our kids?
We need to look at our own patterns of behaviors
Respecting ourselves means doing things that are good for us.
1. We can respect ourselves by:
2. Taking care of our bodies both mentally and physically
3. Educating ourselves
4. Learning from others who can help us improve our lives
5. Communicating with ourselves positively
6. Making the right choices,
7. Caring for our things
8. Caring for how we look.
When we treat ourselves with respect,other people will see that they must treat us with respect also. How can we build our self respect? One of the best ways to enhance our self-respect? Life Skill Martial Arts! Martial arts training keeps our body in good shape. This shows respect for our bodies.
How does a person with self-respect look?
He or she always:
• Keeps good eye contact.
• Uses the right gestures and facial expressions.
• Is structured and well organized.
• They are neat, clean, and wear clothes that match and are pressed.
We can also show respect for ourselves by making the right choices. Making a decision just to please others, like other people, is the worst choice for us. Peer pressure is the number one cause of self destruction.
Practicing self respect allows us to say no to:
• Drugs
• Alcohol (Sorry)
• Cigarettes, or
• Any chemical that will harm us.
Exercising self respect allows us to avoid those environments that may hurt our personal growth. Some example of things we can do to increase our self respect:
Make friends with people who never quit.
Make friends with people that have positive attitudes.
Make friends with people who don’t complain.
Another way to show respect for ourselves is how we take care of ourselves.
Caring for ourselves means we must do the following things:
• Eat healthy and maintain an appropriate weight
• Exercise. Martial Arts is great for that I heard … somewhere!
• Pay attention to personal hygiene by brushing our teeth, cleaning and trimming our nails, and doing what is necessary to smell good.
• Take care of our personal appearance by dressing appropriately and keeping our hair neatly combed.
• Read and educate ourselves to increase our knowledge. By increasing our education, we will also earn the respect of others.
Respect is taught by setting the example of being respectful. The best leader is one who not only knows about respect, but also teaches others by being a role model. To teach our children how to greet others, we must be the first to set the example.
At Life Skill, the instructors and senior ranked students are the first to greet others and set the example for the lower ranks.
As parents, just like leaders, we go first.
Then our children will follow in our footsteps.
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