Teach your Children to Respect Others and Agree to Disagree

As a parent you can teach your child/children that something as simple as paying attention during the class instead of scribbling on notepads or daydreaming will definitely make teachers feel good. Similarly, things like trying to complete lessons on time and being regular with home assignments are definitely helpful for any teacher. Ultimately these small things go a long way in building congenial and respectful bonds between the child and his/her teachers.

"Children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them." - James Baldwin.

Experts say 95% of what children learn is by imitation and 5% through direct instruction. Therefore I feel it is easy for parents/significant adults to teach children to respect their teachers and other people around them by following the very ethics that we would want them to practice.

School is the second home for students and they must treat everyone with love and respect, especially their teachers. Parents play an important role in teaching children to love and respect their teachers. Modelling always begins at home.

In my opinion, disrespect has become a larger societal problem than we realise and the trait of disrespect is being picked up by our children from the diverse (often complicated) environments surrounding us. Therefore it is all the more important for parents to model respectful behaviour.

When parents/significant adults teach and model respectful behaviour, they are imparting basic lessons about kindness, consideration, honesty and empathy as well as gratitude. This is what our children need to learn in today's setting, especially in their interactions with their teachers and peers.

Yes I definitely agree that children may often go 'off track' and pick up inappropriate behaviour from the environment but as long as parents lay a strong foundation in terms of the importance of good behaviour, they can be guided in the positive direction.

As a parent you can teach your children/child that something as simple as paying attention during the class instead of scribbling on notepads or daydreaming will definitely make teachers feel good. Similarly things like trying to complete lessons on time and being regular with home assignments are definitely helpful for any teacher. Ultimately these small things go a long way in building congenial and respectful bonds between the child and his/her teachers. Needless to say these are points that parents can definitely reiterate to their children at home.

Also no matter what, it is essential to avoid discussing teachers in a bad light in front of the child/children. At certain times adults engage in talk (largely criticism) without considering the effect it may have on young children. It is important to be conscious about how we engage with young children as they have very impressionable minds. It is important to model the behaviour we expect and not model the behaviour we don't want to see in our children. If we tell children to act and behave in a particular way and often demonstrate aberrations to our own rules, we end up confusing them.

Yes I do agree that at certain times children may genuinely have issues with their teachers. However as parents and significant adults, refrain from reacting (and endorsing) their blatant displeasure of the teacher in question. It is much better to provide them with a sounding board as more often than not it is more about feelings rather than the situation/incident. After a good round of ventilation, children usually feel much better.

Also keeping an open mind encourages children to have a fresh way of looking at things. Teaching them to 'agree to disagree' with people in their environment provides them with a comfort to go about their daily life devoid of stress. It is helpful for children to understand that one can respect another despite having differences of opinion. This understanding goes on to build healthy relationships with their teachers and finally everyone else in the long run.

By: Gariasi Dutta

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