When children are young, the majority of their learning involves the basics. Parents and teachers focus on teaching kiddos colors, numbers, shapes, letters, how to read and write, and work on their developmental skills. While these are all important things for your kiddo to learn, there are other lessons that you should focus on teaching your child, especially starting at a young age.
There are many life lessons that can help your child become a happier, well-functioning adult. These lessons can help them through the tough high school years, allow them to focus on things that really matter, and teach them the important things in life.
At Yellow Brick Road Early Childhood Development Center, we know that teaching your child the basics is important. But we wanted to take some time to talk about the life lessons that are just as important to start teaching your kiddo. Start making these lessons a part of your daily life and you will be able to help your child in more ways than one. Read on to learn more and be sure to check out our childcare programs today.
You Are Never Wrong For Being Kind
Kindness is such an important thing to teach your child, and while they may already be good at being kind, teaching them to be kind when others are not is important. Being kind to someone can turn their day around, it can help you gracefully deal with tough situations, and it can make any situation better. Teach your child to act with kindness even when they are not shown kindness themselves. This can help them throughout their entire life and can make them happier.
You can teach them this by stressing the importance of kindness and always demonstrating kindness yourself. We have all dealt with not-so-kind people, whether while checking out at a store or just a random stranger in the park. Dealing with these situations by treating them kindly can help your child learn and show them the importance of it. Maybe your kindness turns the cashier’s frown upside down and suddenly your child understands the importance of kindness.
What’s In Your Control
This is one lesson that many adults have trouble with, which is why it is important to teach your child at a young age. Teach your child that they can’t control how others behave or how they treat them, but they can control how they react in those situations. There are always going to be mean people or bad situations that we have to deal with, but teaching your child to react to these things in positive and healthy ways can help them throughout their entire lives.
While sometimes it may seem easier to respond to anger with anger, this can lead to bigger issues and cause personal distress. Teaching your child to respond calmly and kindly and then walk away from a situation can be extremely beneficial.
You Deserve Respect
Many people think that respect comes with age, but that is simply not the case. Everyone deserves respect, including your kiddos. Teach them to give respect and that they should be given respect in return. When you help your child realize that they deserve respect, they will be able to stand up for themselves when they aren’t shown respect. While this is a beneficial thing to teach your young child, it will become even more beneficial as they grow up.
People who weren’t taught to show and expect respect as a child may have trouble with it as an adult. Adults who didn’t think that they deserved respect at a young age may be more likely to let people walk all over them and treat them poorly. Help your child now and in the long run by teaching them to give and expect respect.
You Can’t Be Afraid of Failure
Teaching your child to not be afraid of failure is extremely important. When your kiddo is scared to fail, they will stop trying new things, stress out about small things, and they may be nervous to be honest with you if they do fail. When you teach your child that failure is not a bad thing, it gives them the freedom to fail. You want your child to try new things, you want them to try their best, but you also want them to fail from time to time. Failure can help build character and give your child the ability to keep trying.
Make sure that you don’t make failure a negative thing in your home. If you see your child fail, simply tell them that it’s okay and encourage them to try again. Being okay with failure can make it easier to take risks as an adult. This can be extremely beneficial when applying to a job, making career changes, and following their dreams.
Love Yourself
Teaching your child to love themselves is extremely beneficial. It is important to teach your kiddo that everyone is different and that everyone has something to love about themselves. Especially as your child gets older, it is important to teach them that they don’t and shouldn’t try to be someone they are not. When you teach your child to love themselves, they will stop trying to get other people’s acceptance and stop trying to blend in and they will be okay with being themselves.
We all have moments when it is hard to love ourselves, so teaching your child to do so at a young age can help make those hard times easier and allow them to accept who they are, even as they change.
The Right Choice Isn’t Always Easy
When you teach your child that sometimes the right choice is the hard choice to make, they will have an easier time making those hard decisions. There are some decisions we have to make throughout our lives that are extremely difficult. Sometimes it is hard knowing what the right choice is; while nothing will change this, teaching your child that sometimes the right choice is the hard choice allows them to follow their intuition and not just choose the easy path.
Making choices is something we do every day, and teaching your child this at a young age can help make it slightly easier for them as they grow older. Let them know that following their gut will be difficult at times, but tell them that you trust them to make the right choice.
Don’t Take Life Too Seriously
There are moments throughout everyone’s life when we end up taking life too seriously. While it can be hard not to, try to teach your child not to take life too seriously. While there are moments when being serious is all we have, teaching your child to have fun and laugh through the hard times can be extremely beneficial. It is okay to have fun and be goofy. It is okay to joke around and enjoy the little moments.
Teaching your child not to take life too seriously can also help you enjoy those little moments. Laugh at the little mistakes, don’t stress about the things outside of your control, and make sure that you are enjoying each and every day. When you demonstrate this, your child will be more likely to be able to do the same.
These are only a few of the many life lessons that you should teach your child starting at a young age. These lessons will benefit them now and in the future. While their ABCs and numbers are important, these life lessons will completely change the way they respond to situations throughout life and help them navigate through hard times.
If you are looking for a high-quality childcare center to help your kiddo get a head start in their education, be sure to check out Yellow Brick Road Early Childhood Education Center. We have locations in Plymouth, Minnetonka, Maple Grove, and Eden Prairie, making it easy to find a location near you. Contact us with any questions you may have!
