As parents, it is your responsibility to raise your children in the right way possible. This includes good manners and conduct. It is important to teach children, young as they are, how to be polite towards everyone regardless the age or race, and be respectful towards them. However, one of the most important skills that children should learn is how to disagree with respect.
For toddlers and school-age children, by the time they are able to talk and converse with anyone, they will now learn how to be independent and will now have their own opinion and idea about something. This includes forming their own opinions and figuring things out on their own, like things that they like and things that they don't like. By the time that they now can distinguish their likes and dislikes, they may now be able to have disagreements and agreements towards their family, friends, or everyone who surrounds them.
As young as they are, children should be taught how to handle a conversation well especially if the person they are talking to have opinions and views that don't coincide theirs. To avoid disrespectful scenarios, teach your children how to disagree respectfully. It is important that they should know how to express their opinions and emotions to people in a respectful matter, so when the time comes that they are older, they will not get into trouble. Also, parents should know that the ability of children to discuss calmly their opinions about a certain thing is a sign of maturity, and this can go a long way for them when they become adults.
How to Encourage Kids to Have Polite Conversations
Children will follow their parent's actions when they are young. Thus, respect should come from parents. Be a role model and teach your children how to converse properly about certain discussions and talks. To know how-to, here are some ways you can encourage polite discussions towards your children.
Encourage them to be a good listener.
This can be more effective to imply to your children if you are a good listener as well. You can instil a good model of a good listener by simply listening to them and giving them attention when they need it as much as possible. Teach children that listening is one doing that shows respect and empathy to the person who is talking. Tell your children that they should listen intently to anyone who is speaking and talk only when it is necessary.
Let them see in another person's point of view.
Speaking of empathy, it is important for parents to teach their children to be sensitive enough towards another person's belief or opinion. Before they say something to them that is opposing to the other person's opinion or idea, teach them to weigh things over and see the situation from a different perspective. This will create a respectful habit when they grow older and will become an asset to them.
Teach your children to stand for their beliefs.
It is important for children to be confident in their beliefs and opinions. This might be hard to teach to children, especially if there are people who do things in a different way and believe in things from a different perspective. Just because your child has a different opinion does not mean they are wrong or other people are wrong. Teach them what is right and what is wrong and they will be able to understand how some things don't go their way.
