Parents Should Be Good Role Models If They Want Good Children

"The apple doesn't fall far from the tree." "Like father, like son." "A chip off the old block." "Trouble follows the footsteps of all those McCoys." These phrases succinctly sum up family characterisations – some complimentary, others definitely not. But they all infer to the same thing: that parents are to blame for how their children turn out – for better or for worse.

The most important people in the world in the child's eyes are his parents. They are his first and most important teachers. The behaviour of a child's parents leaves a permanent impression in the child's subconscious mind. The reason for this is that the most reliable source of priorities and values in a child's eyes are his parents. Children have an innate trust in their parents. They feel that everything their parents say and do is the true and proper way to behave.

Parents need to be a good role model if they want their children to be good and successful. A good role model is the one that "walks the talk". In other words they also "practise what they preach". Children want to be like their parents. This is a known fact. If parents are doctors and lawyers, then their children also want to be doctors and lawyers. So if parents want their children to be good and mature human beings, all they have to do is be one themselves.

Children tend to emulate their parents behaviour in all walks of life. So if the parents have good habits and personal attitudes toward life, then their children emulate them and become like them but if the parents have an introvert and negative view of life then their children are most likely to have the same view. If parents do not want their children to drink alcohol then they must be a non-drinker themselves. They will copy that. If they want their children to be safe car drivers then they must ensure that they drive very safely themselves.

Parents are the first role models for their children. Children look up to their parents with love and trust and at least in the formative years they try to follow closely the example set by their parents. It is imperative that parents be positive, pro-social models that lead by example so that their children learn to be emotionally intelligent and deal with all kinds of people while nurturing loving relationships as they grow up. In a busy world that is becoming increasingly indifferent to the weak, the old and the vulnerable, parents should show their children that honesty, courage, mercy, love and tolerance are as important as brilliant feats of mind and body as to retain the world's sanity. They owe it to their children.

The belief that parents should be good role models if they want good children, to a degree