Good habits are much easier to persist with when you learn them from an early age. Read on for reasons why you should start instilling good habits and behaviours, starting as early as possible!
Good Habits Lead To Good Choices
Practicing good habits lead to making good choices. The discipline of repeating an action or behaviour that may be inconvenient or require more effort is the discipline your child will carry for life. Take for example the habit of brushing teeth in the morning and evening. If our children don’t brush their teeth every day now, what are the chances of this becoming an easy choice to make in their adulthood? So let’s prevent our children from picking up poor hygiene habits and teach them about why brushing their teeth is so important. Practice indeed makes perfect when it comes to choosing the right thing to do
Habits Make The Person You Are
Every day we make choices about the person we want to be. When we wake up in the morning there are many choices to make, and it is what you choose that eventually forms who you are. If you are guiding your child to make simple choices from an early age – putting their school bag away in its place, brushing their teeth morning and night, cleaning up after themselves – they are developing the right habits for life. Being orderly at the age of 5 will actually affect how orderly your child is as an adult! Have a chat with your child and see if they understand the amazing long-term effects of good habits.
Surround Them With Good Habits
Your children should recognise when others make good choices. Positively reinforcing your child, or another child’s, good behaviour provides them with examples to imitate. Additionally, encourage your children to befriend those who are practicing good habits at school, because they will be more likely to make good choices too.
When we ask our children to do something in the hope that they will pick up good habits, we must understand that they may not do these jobs perfectly. However, giving them the chance to do and repeat certain tasks or behaviours are the opportunities they need to practice virtues that will stick with them for life. So go ahead, take a step back and allow your children to practice good habits on their own!
This article was inspired by episode #51 of The Parent-Teacher Project entitled 3 Essential Habits To Teach Your 5 Year Old with Mia Dineen, and Nathan Frazer.
Listen to the entire episode below.
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