Knowing how to teach children about morality and get desirable results starts with you. Do you adhere to a set of moral values? How consistently do you act in accordance with those moral values? You will never successfully teach children about morality if your personal behavior is not in accordance with your teaching.
So to get started, sit in front of a mirror and objectively assess your own behavior. If you want to teach children about honesty, determine how honest you are. If you want to teach children about morals, such as respect and integrity, check your own levels of those traits. Be ruthless.
The process
Knowing how to teach children morality and obtain desirable results involves a familiar process. We can sum up that family with this quote: “Repetition is the mother of learning, the father of action, which makes it the architect of achievement.” (Zig Ziglar)
Think of “Repeat” as the family name and the next three as given names.
- Repetition, the mother of learning
- Repetition, the father of action
- Repetition, the architect of realization
The three Replays help those who are looking to know how to teach children morality.
“But I hate repetitive tasks!” you say.
You hate repetitive tasks, but you probably love achievements. You are reading this article because you want children to learn and practice morality, not simply to be exposed to morality.
The mother of learning
Let me introduce Repetition, the Mother of Learning. She is a kind and wise entity. She knows that a child can only learn by listening to the lesson over and over again. She knows that the 4-year-old who wants to learn about baseball needs to know about the game. So, line after line after line, she reads to that child about how to throw a ball, catch a ball, hit a ball, and so on. Soon the child knows everything so well that she can repeat it word for word. The boy has learned about baseball through repetition.
TIP: To teach children about moral values, we should repeat definitions, stories, songs, and explanations until the children have memorized them.
The father of action
Repetition, the Father of Action, is married to Repetition, the Mother of Learning. Once she has taught with repetition of words, the Father of Action enters the scene. He goes beyond words. He knows that a 4-year-old who wants to play baseball needs more than motherly words. Then, over and over again, the Action Parent helps the child repeat the basic motions of throwing, catching, and hitting a ball. He helps the boy apply the memorized words in repeated exercises until acting out baseball becomes natural and fluid.
TIP: To teach children about moral values, we should repeat the guided use of each character trait until the children begin to exercise those values without help.
The architect of achievement
Now meet the third member of the family: Iteration, Architect of Realization. An architect designs and guides a plan or project. Grandfather Architect uses the solid work done by Mother of Learning and Father of Action to design and guide the building of children’s moral values. True to the family name, use repetition. Helps children pay attention to details so they can resolve gaps in their understanding and practice of moral values. Provide models of the finished character build they are working on. He injects enthusiasm and spirit into the process as the results begin to show!
TIP: To teach children about moral values, we must repeatedly call attention to faulty understanding and actions, repeatedly inject enthusiasm and even rewards until children consistently exercise the desired moral values.
Conclution
Repetition is the answer to teaching children moral values. “Repetition is the mother of learning, the father of action, which makes it the architect of achievement.”
Repetition of character trait definitions, character in action, and energetic encouragement will yield positive results!