How (and Why) to Teach Kids Respect

The number one thing sought after by sons is the respect of their father.

Boys work so hard to earn their fathers’ respect. They need it so much.

Disappointing their dads is a big point of trial for sons and having their dads respect them and who they are is a great triumph for all sons young and old.

The first person you need to teach your kids to respect is their father.

This may be particularly difficult if your child’s father is not in the picture for whatever reason, or is a person for whom you have lost all respect.

Regardless of the circumstances, you should always speak of your children’s father respectfully – both in front of and behind their backs, but especially when speaking to your children.

If you don’t, then your sons will grow up with expectations of being not worthy of respect and will become disrespectful themselves. Furthermore, your daughters will subconsciously look for a mate that they can’t respect because they think that’s how a home works.

This will create a vicious cycle of never-ending misery and divorce in your family tree.

Respect is Not Politically Correct

Now respect is not a politically correct topic.

Nowadays, our society is working harder than ever to tear men down.

We are telling women that they are better than men in every way and that we don’t need men for anything.

What is this doing?

Well, I’ll tell you one thing – it’s demoralizing men and it’s destroying families!

That’s not to say men are better than women, because they’re not. Men and women are both wonderful and powerful in their own unique ways. Neither one can reach their best without the other.

I want to raise my children to have strong, meaningful relationships with their spouses.

The best way to set my children up for success in the future is to get them trained up in correct principles now!

Men and Boys Need Respect

Not respecting a male is like suffocating him. If you don’t give him ‘respect air’ he will, even if it is only subconsciously, look for that ‘air’ someplace else.

This is usually at his workplace. And unfortunately, if it is a woman who notices him and gives him respect for how hard he is working, and you’re not giving him respect at home, he will have a very hard time not gravitating to where that respect is.

Teaching Kids Respect

So how do we teach our children to respect their fathers?

First, by being a good example.

Second, by making sure your kids tell their father on a regular basis how thankful they are for what he does for them.

The attitude of gratitude that they show to their father (if available) will resonate well with him.

Also, if they are respectful of their father and tell him so with specific examples, he is more likely to do more of those things.

All children need to hear their mother say to their father, “I respect you” if at all possible.

If he is not available to thank, then have your children thank other male role models in their lives for the things that they do for them. For your sons, this will subconsciously get them in the habit of being a man worth being respected.

How do you teach your daughters to respect their brothers?

This will be important for learning to respect their future husbands.

First, you need to make sure your boys are doing things for your girls.

Help them serve and protect their sisters, whether at school or at play, at home or away. Then as the boys do this, make sure your daughters are thanking your boys for all of the work.

As your boys play these roles, they will learn to be chivalrous and respectable.

Mothers and Fathers Need To Respect Their Sons.

If your sons decide to make a good choice, then you need to tell them you respect them for the good choices they make.

The earlier you do this, and the more often you do this, the more likely they are to make good decisions.

Additionally, boys who grow up this way are more likely to find a wife that respects them, which means they won’t suffocate from lack of ‘respect air’ later down the road.

Showing your sons that you respect their father gives your boys the best chance of turning into respectable and loving parents themselves.

Teaching Respect in Your Homeschool

Teaching respect in your homeschool can be a fun thing to do!

If you do role-playing games like knights and princesses as a history lesson, you can talk about how this is not just for the past but for the here and now.

You can also have etiquette lessons where the boys are trained to treat the girls with love and the girls are taught to treat the boys with respect.

If you make sure that your kids know that everyone is a child of God and as such deserve your respect and love, regardless of how they treat you, then respect and love should always be something you strive for.

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How (and Why) to Teach Kids Respect