Our Children Are Watching

The best advice we can give our children, is our example.

We are their first role model.

And we have this responsibility and honor until we screw it up. We only lose their faith and often their obedience when our words begin to contradict our actions. As parents, our actions, our habits, and how we interact in our world – impact our children more than the words we preach.

If we want our children to be honest – they can’t hear us lie.

If we want our children to work hard – they must see us grind.

If we want our children to read more – they must see us reading.

If we want our children to be punctual and on time – we must always be on time, too.

If we want our children to communicate without anger, hostility, and horrible body language – we must model this behavior when we speak to them, and everyone else in our life.

In all aspects, we must model the behavior we want to see in our children. There is an old saying, “The apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree.” This saying often rings true because children model their behavior after their parents. Behavior is not genetic – it is learned.

Our children are always watching us… How we work, how we speak, how we deal. With this in mind, we must practice what we preach.

Maurice Guest Jr., is an education administrator in Little Rock, Arkansas.