In a world of political correctness, many of us are afraid to speak our mind freely because we either don’t want to offend a wounded society or be “cancelled.” I’m not saying it’s okay to be insensitive or to be all truth and no grace with your children and others, because the words we speak to them have power and they sometimes last a lifetime. The key is to teach our children more so by our actions and less by our words.
Let’s teach them healthy values and morals that will help them choose selflessness over selfish gratifications. Teach them the value of words by how we treat and respect ours. Teach them the value of setting up boundaries. Saying “no” to them is not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, you should teach your children the meaning of the word. Sometimes, when God says no to your prayers, it’s not because he doesn’t love you or doesn’t care about what you’re praying for, but it’s because he wants to protect you from something he knows you’re either not ready for or something that could potentially ruin your life. Saying no to your children when needed is not being negative, but rather teaching them that they won’t get everything in life. You are actually saving them from certain disappointments, from not expecting everything to go their way. You are teaching them to not be entitled but to be more grateful and appreciative. You’re teaching them how to deal with rejection in life, because, sadly, we live in a world that chooses who deserves rejection and who deserves acceptance.
Teach them resilience, determination, persistence. Teach them to believe in themselves by how much they value their morals and virtues. We’ve been taught to believe in words so much that we disregard people’s actions as long as they know the right things to say. We focus on listening to only what we want to hear, things that validate our thoughts and beliefs, ideas that are pleasing to our ears, things that boost our egos and make us feel high and mighty, righteous and faultless. Teach your children to pay attention to what people do more than what they say. Act in ways that teach them what it means to be kind, caring, loving, empathetic, generous, patient, compassionate and sincere. Don’t just tell them, show them, because they are watching how you treat others. They are watching how you treat those who are financially less fortunate. Teach your children that their physical attraction doesn’t make them beautiful because at any moment, they can lose it. What they own doesn’t make them rich, because at any moment, it can be gone. But how they care for others. How they take care of those in need. How they help, heal and make positive changes in the lives of those around them is what really matters. Teach them that their actions speak louder than their words.
