Get Involved
There are numerous things in life that can negatively influence your child. The most important thing you can do to help your child to avoid these negative influences is to get involved in their life.
You need to know what is going on with them and the types of situations and influences that exist in their life. Your child may make it seem sometimes like you are spying on them or not letting them live their own life. You have to ignore this because it is important that no matter what you are involved in your child’s life.
The following are some examples of things you need to be aware of and things you need to avoid if you want your child to develop a good set of morals and values:
Know Your Child’s Friends:
Children can easily be influenced by other children. In some cases, a child will actually listen to another child more than an adult. That is why it is extremely important for you as a parent to know who your children associate with.
If your child has negative influences as friends their moral standing may be at jeopardy. Even if your child does not agree with what a certain individual is doing they may eventually begin to participate anyways because they want to gain the acceptance of that person, this is only human nature. The more that your child engages in these activities the less bad they will feel about it. This will lead to changes in your child’s morals and values and things they used to think were not ok suddenly are. This could include drug use, lying, stealing, or other negative behaviors.
Watch Out For Certain Video Games:
Video games are becoming increasingly violent. On top of that they are also starting to promote drug and alcohol use and other types of behaviors more and more. The problem with a child playing games such as these is that a child can have difficulties in distinguishing what is ok in a video game and what is ok in real life.
This leads to children doing some very shocking things. There have been instances where children have been seriously hurt or have hurt or even killed other children. When they were asked why they did what they did, they would reply that it was ok in their video game and that they didn’t think that anyone would get hurt.
Situations such as these actually happen a lot more than you probably think. This is the main reason why there are ratings on video game covers. Parents need to stop buying video games that are meant for people ages 17+ for young children. There is a reason why those games have mature ratings.
They are not meant for minds that can be molded as easy as a child. Parents like to try to blame video games for their child’s actions but they should really be asking themselves why they bought it for their child in the first place.
Music:
Just like other forms of media, music can either be beneficial for your child’s morals or can be completely negative. More often than not it is negative. It is important for you to know what type of music your child listens to. In years prior to iPads and iPhones, your child would listen to their music on their stereo and you would be able to hear what they were listening to. In today’s age, kids are always walking around with earphones in and you have no idea what they are listening to.
Take a minute to ask your child who some of their favorite musicians are and ask them if you can listen to some of their music with them sometime. It is important that you ask if you can listen with them and not on your own because this will let your child know that you are interested and not just trying to pry inot their life.
Free Time:
You also need to know what your child is doing with their free time. If you are trying to boost your child’s moral standards it would be a good idea to consider placing your child in some extra-curricular activities. These activities will teach your child responsibility and how to be accountable for their actions. This is very important for the development of a healthy set of morals and values.