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Cultivating good habits, manners in children

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Mohammad Nadeem Parray
Children to a large extent are a reflection of their parents. Clichéd as it may sound, children are like clay that is waiting to be moulded. Adults may find it difficult to mend their ways and change their habits but not so the children.
As the adage goes, good habits and manners start early. It would be a good idea for parents to capitalise on this and inculcate good habits and good manners in children so that it becomes a way of life for them. But from where are they going to learn them? Children learn by watching their parent’s, elder siblings and people around them. They pick up language, habits, mannerisms, tradition and culture from the environment they grow up in and from the adults they see around them.
Parents should, therefore, be very mindful about how they behave, what they say when they have children around them. In short, they have to walk the talk. If there is a mismatch between what they say to the child and what they do, then the child is most definitely going to do what they see. Keep reading to explore some of the best ways to inculcate good habits and good manners in a child.
11 Ways to Develop Good Habits and Manners in Your Child:
1. Start Young: It’s never too early to develop good habits and manners.
2. Be a Role Model: Be a fine example yourself.
3. Harbour a Positive Environment: Create a happy and comfortable environment at home.
4. Set Strong Ground Rules: Make routine time tables that allocate fixed hours.
5. Reward: Reward them with experiences and not materialistic things.
6. Let Your Child Speak: Give kids the right to voice out their opinion.
7. Teach Responsibility: To ensure that they grow up to be caring adults.
8. Encourage Reading of Good Literature: Stories are a powerful medium to develop good habits and manners in your child.
9. Be Involved: Spend some quality time with your little one.
10. Set Expectations That Are Realistic: Do not expect your child to be the epitome of good manners and habits.
11. Be Firm: Teach them about inappropriate behaviour and its unpleasant consequences.
1. Start Young:
It’s never too early to develop good habits and good manners in your child. Remember, kids as they grow older show resistance to changes that disrupt their set routine. Introduce them to courteous manners and good habits like dental hygiene, reading , heading to bed early, healthy eating , saying thank you, greeting others and many more as early as possible. It will help to start good habits for kids at an early age.
2. Be a Role Model:
The best way to develop good habits and good manners in your child is to be a fine example yourself. Trust us, your child is learning most of the things by just observing your everyday habits and manners. Thus it becomes crucial for you to exhibit the best so that your child imbibes the same.
3. Harbour a Positive Environment:
It is only in a safe, positive and secure environment that a child learns, grows and flourishes, start adopting good habits and manners. Create a happy and comfortable environment at home and try to always have an optimistic frame of mind around your kid. Doing this will like a miracle help develop good habits and manners in your child.
4. Set Strong Ground Rules:
As parents, it is important that you set strong ground rules. Make routine tables that allocate fixed hours for homework, play, nap time and TV time. Doing this will gradually create discipline in your child’s life and help them learn good habits and manners. However, you need to find that delicate balance where you are not too strict or overly flexible with your child’s routine.
5. Reward:
Another way to develop good habits and manners in your child is to reward good behaviour. However, reward them with experiences not materialistic things. Instead of promising a toy to give them extra playtime or take them for a trip to the nearby zoo.
6. Let Your Child Speak:
Give kids the right to voice out their opinion. Allow your child to speak his/her mind and as parents try seeing things from the child’s point of view. Also, take their opinion on small matters around the house. This way, your child is more likely to listen to you and obey you. Also, you can introduce them to good habits for kids.
7. Teach Responsibility:
Teaching your child to be responsible is the first step towards ensuring that they grow up to be caring adults. You could imbibe this trait in your child by giving them something important for safe-keeping. Also, if you have an older child consider gifting them a pet as this will instil a sense of responsibility in your little one in order to teach them good habits.
8. Encourage Reading of Good Literature:
Stories are a powerful medium to develop good habits and manners in your child. Good literature teaches your kids to imbibe good morals, conduct and courtesy and have a positive attitude towards life.
9. Be Involved:
No matter how busy your lifestyle or schedule is, always do make it a point to carve out some quality time with your little one. Encourage them to speak about their day as this will give you an insight into who their friends are and how they are doing at schools. Being healthy involved in your child’s life will make them feel loved and more receptive to your decisions.
10. Set Expectations That Are Realistic:
Do not expect your child to be the epitome of good habits and good manners. Remember your child is still young and is bound to make mistakes. Be patient and if they do something that you don’t approve of talking to them and let them know that what they did was wrong. Also, raising your voice or hitting is only going to make your kid more resistant towards developing good habits and manners.
11. Be Firm:
There may be times where your child displays inappropriate behaviour and is ill-mannered.When this happens it is important to be firm and make your child understand about good habits and bad habits, that what he/she did is unacceptable and what damage his/her actions would or has created. Also, if your child still continues to misbehave and is refusing to pay heed to you, then stop covering for them. Bearing the brunt of their actions will teach them why they should not behave inappropriately and that it has unpleasant consequences.
Parents, these are just some of the ways to develop good habits and manners in your child. Do let us know what you did differently to make your child behave well!
“We are our own potters; for our habits make us, and we make our habits”.
(The author is pursuing Masters in chemistry)


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