My Favourite 15 Lessons For Children

15 lessons for children? Why should we be having this conversation?

Raising children have never been as difficult as it is today. I compiled my top 15 lessons for children to share with other parents. The list is by no means exhaustive. Please share additional lessons at the end of this post.

According to UNICEF, "childhood is the time for children to be in school and at play, to grow strong and confident with the love and encouragement of their family and extended community of caring adults. It is a precious time in which children live free from fear, safe from violence and protected from abuse and exploitation."

What stood out for me as it relates to this post is that childhood is a period when children learn in school (teaching a child, in my opinion, is the primary responsibility of parents, see your child's school as helping you to fulfil that role, you should be involved in their learning). They learn through play. They grow to become "strong and confident." They cannot become a strong or confident adult without the input of responsible adults in their lives. Now let us look at the top 15 lessons for children next.

Top 15 Lessons For Children

  • Teach them to eat well and exercise well. Eating well and exercising regularly gives us the energy we need to get on with life's activities. Teach your child that there is a connection between what we eat and how productive we become. It also contributes to our general well being. Help them develop the ability to make the right choice when it comes to food and drinks.
  • Love and Respect. Teach them to love and respect other people. Many of the conflicts we experience daily could be resolved by following these basic rules of humanity.
  • Love themselves. Having a healthy self-love helps with self-esteem. If you love yourself it may be easier to love others. It is especially important to teach young ones to love their bodies. In this age where looks are almost everything, more and more children are becoming less confident in their skin. Thinking they are ugly. Please help them to see themselves positively.
  • Gratitude. Teach them to be grateful for what they have and not moan over what they do not. Let them know that our happiness doesn't come from the things we have. If we are happy with nothing we will be happy with something and vice versa. Let them have a gratitude journal and write down what they are happy for each day.
  • Kindness. Kindness is becoming a rare commodity these days. It will not hurt us to show kindness. It is important to teach this to your little angels. Let them learn to treat others the way they will like to be treated.
  • Generous. "There is more happiness in giving than in receiving," said a very famous historical person. When they give or share their toys, a piece of cake or even give their time playing with others, they are learning one of the best lessons ever.
  • Please and thank you. Those are the two important words they will need in everyday life. Politeness cost nothing, teach them good manners.
  • Say sorry. I am sorry is another magical phrase they will need, to navigate through the storms of life. They will be happy if they learn this, and it will endear others to them.
  • Learn to wait. An older lady described this generation as the "instant pudding generation." Everything has to be done now. We live in a world where young people get things by clicking a button. It does not always happen that way. They need to learn that in many aspects of life there is what is known as waiting time.
  • Teach them to forgive. Forgiveness is what we do for ourselves and not for others. I wish I had learnt this years ago, it would have spared me many pains. We will always meet horrible people but we heal better and faster when we forgive.
  • Teach them resilience and hard work. Disappointments and failures are a part of life. It is often said that people who never failed have never tried. Encourage them to keep moving, keep pushing, keep work hard. Hard work will be rewarded at some point.
  • Show them how to resolve conflicts. We will always have conflicts with others. Even identical twins may disagree sometimes. Teach them how to negotiate and let others have their way sometimes. They will soon become great at doing this.
  • Never feel entitled. Sadly, many think they are entitled to everything and it affects the way they behave and their mental health if they don't get what they feel belongs to them. It makes them bitter, unproductive and empty. So we need to teach our dear little ones that, they may not always get things, even the ones they are entitled to.
  • Teach them they can choose to be happy or sad. Others are not responsible for our happiness we are. We can choose to be happy or sad, it depends on how we react to things when they happen to us. This is a very important life skill.
  • Teach them to be responsible. Teach to be reliable with the task they are giving. You need to give them chores and make sure they do them. Teach them how to manage money. Sadly, money is an important commodity we use in life. But no school ever teach this fundamental skill of money management. You are your child's main teacher, don't let them leave home without the knowledge of these essential life skills.
  • These are my favourite 15 lessons for children. Do you have any other lessons you think children need to learn and will like to add to this? Let us know these lessons below:

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