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All parents want to raise their children the very best they can, to see them flourish as young adults and embrace life in the most positive way. With today’s increasingly challenging times, it’s even more important that you pass down your own pearls of wisdom.
It also means, all those mistakes you made can actually come into use. Drawing on your own past decisions and mishaps can provide you with a plethora of useful advice and tips you can now impart onto your little ones to help them along the way. Here are a few good places to start and life lessons to teach your kids.
1. Good manners
It’s cool to be kind, and having good manners will get you far in life. Treating others how you would wish to be treated is one of life’s most important lessons. Instilling good manners from an early age will encourage your child to be the kind and caring individual you want them to be.
It’s never too early to teach manners and etiquette, beginning with the basics of saying ‘please’ and ‘thank you’. You can then move on to teaching them the importance of saying ‘sorry’ and continuing to develop empathy. It’s important to nail this in the early stages of your child’s life, after all, no one wants their youngster to be the playgroup bully.
2. Efficient money management
No one ever really ‘teaches’ us how to be good with money, it’s rarely (if at all) touched upon during the school curriculum, therefore, the responsibility falls to you, the parent.
Introduce efficient money management principles to your child from an early age. For example, this could start with their weekly pocket money and teach them to save some of their pennies. You should encourage them to think ahead and explain the importance of being careful with their pennies. Ask them to save up for things they really want or to earn their pocket money by completing chores around the house.
Of course, you’re not expected to explain the stock exchange to a nine-year-old by any means, but ensuring they have a basic understanding of how to manage money is important.
3. Talking openly about death
Life and death can be a confusing concept for children and difficult to fully grasp. Even as adults it’s a topic we try to avoid as much as we possibly can. Burying your head in the sand won’t benefit you or your children. Teaching them to be open when it comes to talking about death will enable them to handle the bereavement process when such a time arises.
It’s a tough lesson to teach and if you’re struggling with a loss in the family, the experts at Beyond can help you and your children through this difficult time by handling the tricky admin side of death or discussing the options available to you.
4. A great work-ethic
Encouraging a great work ethic early on in life will help your child to progress through school, university and into their career.
Teaching them the importance of hard work ensures your children feel confident and well-equipped when they enter the workplace. It’s the foundations of building a fruitful working life and opening the door to many exciting opportunities.
5. Seize every opportunity
Have you ever turned down an opportunity that you later regretted? We’ve all been there. Teaching your child the importance of embracing every opportunity early on in life will take them far into adulthood, in some cases, quite literally. Whether it be a work opportunity abroad or an opportunity to study in another country, encourage them to say yes when their gut tells them to. We only regret the chances we didn’t take, so give them the confidence they need to venture into the unknown and dare to step outside of their comfort zones.