The Five Most Important Morals to Teach Your Children

The Five Most Important Morals to Teach Your Children

Those of you who read My Parenting Job Description Article know that teaching my children morals was number one on my Parenting Job Description. There is a long list of morals from various religions and beliefs. I have narrowed this list down to what I feel are the top five morals a parent should teach their child.

Why Are Morals Important?

Having morals means you can tell the difference between right and wrong. Morals are important because people who behave morally are able to live in together in relative peace. Even with all the horror stories of human cruelty and bad people on the news, this is the minority in our society, most people treat others well. If the majority of people lived and acted without morals our world would be a very scary and miserable place to live. The difference between the morals of the minority and majority of people can be strongly linked to the way they were raised. I feel strongly as a parent that it is my job to make sure my children are taught to act with morality towards themselves and others.

Top Five Morals to Teach Your Child

1. Honesty 

Anyone who has had the misfortune of knowing a compulsive liar knows the harm lying causes relationships. Trust is a necessary foundation to all healthy relationships. Teaching your children that it is wrong to lie, steal, and cheat is critical for their future happiness.

2. Compassion

When you think about people you like to be around, I bet all of them show compassion to you in one way or another. When a person is considerate, kind, charitable, generous, and has good will, you are drawn to them. Unfortunately the spoiling and entitlement of children that is so abundant today is anti-compassion. The best way to teach compassion is through service to others. Get your children involved in community service where they can help those in need.

3. Courage

There is so much to learn, and so much that we can be afraid of in our world. It is the easy to be a coward. Having courage to face your fears and to do what is right, even when there could be personal consequences is important for both a person’s own self-worth and for society.

4. Empathy

Every person has a unique perspective of the world we live in. It is empathy that enables us to connect with each other. Empathy makes us able to identify what another person is feeling and to understand their point of view. A bully is a child who has not be taught empathy.

5. Respect 

Self-respect is feeling like you are a good person and deserve to be treated well. A person with self-respect is comfortable with themselves. Early on, children have a healthy sense of self-respect. As they grow, children become self-conscious about themselves, and their self-respect is challenged. It is imperative that a child is taught to respect themselves. Along with respecting themselves, children need to learn to respect others. Respecting another person is acknowledging and honoring their rights, freedom, and dignity. Teaching your child basic manners is the foundation for respectful behavior.

I thought about the world I want to live in, and how I want my fellow people to act when I decided on this list. What do you think the most important morals to teach your children are?