Some tips today for positive parents about teaching children respect in 10
minutes or less. I promise it's going to be 10 minutes or less. I've asked
hundreds of kids this question. "What does it mean to respect?" And the most common
answer I get: "Be nice!" Wow. How simple. And if kids can understand this, can we teach
them about respect in a short period of time? Yes, we can. I said 10 minutes or
less on the title of this video. I've got a definition for respect that is very
very close to what those kids are saying. To be nice. And part of this comes from a
podcast interview that I did with Kevin Hall. Kevin is the author of the book
"Aspire" which is a really inspiring book where he takes a look at different words
and the power of those words in our life. One of the words that Kevin taught me is
Genshy. Kind of like gun shy only gun shy. And it means treating someone in a
way that never makes them feel small or insignificant or unimportant. I think
that's a really great definition for a respect. That we always treat someone in
a way that helps them to feel important. And to feel that they are a significant
person on this planet. That's where I'm going to start with the definition. Now,
respect, as we teach kids about respect, there's different ways to help them to
get to know this. I like to put it into three simple rules. All of which have
something to do with respect. These could be your household rules. It's so much
easier to remember 3 rules than it is to remember a whole list of rules. And
you think about your kids. They're always going to be creative enough to find
something that's not on the list if you've tried to be comprehensive.
These 3 rules I think cover everything that you might be concerned
about as a parent. And it helps to teach children respect in a very short period
of time. Maybe 10 minutes or less. Rule number one: Respect yourself and others.
Let's use the kids definition. Be nice to yourself and others. I was watching a
video here on YouTube from Julie hunt. And smart kids 101. In this video, which
you can link to right up there. Julie gives a fun little demonstration
of one way to teach kids about the power of their words and how hard it is to
take something back once you've said it. If it's not nice or if it is nice, once
you've said it, it's out there. The example that she shares in her video has
her drawing some lines on a piece of paper with a marker and then challenging
the kids to squeeze out a tube of toothpaste to cover each of those lines
as fast as they can. Not hard to do. And kids love squeezing toothpaste out of a
tube. The next task is that Julie gives them a knife and they are to take that
knife and scoop up the toothpaste and put it back in the tube as fast as they
can. How do you think that goes? Yeah, not so well. That's not an easy thing to do.
You could try that yourself if you wanted to. This is just a fun little
activity that I think is a good example of one way to teach how important it is
to be careful about what we
say. because it's hard to put it back once it's out
there. Great example. Thank you for that example Julie. Rule number 2, respect
property. Remember those hundreds of kids that I interviewed? And I asked him about
property. What is property? And the most common answer is, "it's my neighbor's yard."
Yeah, because their mom has told them, "Hey, stay out of the neighbors property."
Meaning their yard, right? Yes. It's the yard, it's also stuff.
It's all of the things that are owned by the people that we talked about in rule
number one. Respecting property, what does that mean? We can go through a quick
example with the kids about what about your shoes for example? Where do they
belong? Either on my feet or in my closet on the shoe rack. What if I throw my
shoes in the living room? Well, that's not respecting property. Because respecting
property means you put things in their place. And respecting property means that
you take good care of your stuff. And respecting property means that you don't
take something that belongs to someone else without asking. And respecting
property means that if you do borrow something from someone, you return it in
at least as good a condition as it was when you borrowed it.
Kids pick this up really fast. So use a few examples like that. What does it mean
to respect property? Rule number 3. Respect authority. There's 2 elements
to this that I like to talk about that have to do with respect. Cooperate and
obey. There's a little difference between cooperation and obedience.
Who should we cooperate with? Really, anyone who is asking us to do something
that's right and reasonable. Who... Who isn't asking us to violate rule 1 or
rule 2. We should cooperate with them. So, what does that mean about respecting
your little sister? What if she wants a little bit of help picking up some toys
that are on the ground? Should you cooperate with her? Because she's not the
boss of you. Yeah, doesn't have to do with her being
the boss of you. It has to do with respect and cooperating with someone
who's asking you to do something that's right and reasonable. That doesn't
violate rule 1 or 2. What does it mean to obey? Obedience is different from
cooperation. Who should you obey? Someone who has authority over you. This is what
I mean by respect Authority. Now, who has authority over you? You can think of a
few people right? When we're talking to the kids,
number one is your parents. Your parents you should obey. Why? Because they have
authority over you. Who else has authority over you? Teachers,
police officers, judges, people who are in charge of whatever organization you
belong to. Yes. All of those people have some level of authority. Respecting that
authority means that you acknowledge their position and you obey. These 3
rules are a quick way to help children learn about respect in 10 minutes or
less. Isn't that awesome? I hope you found this
helpful. Please follow us on Instagram and
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to be a part of. This is for conscious positive parents like you. Thank you for
being here. I'll see you again tomorrow.