Teach your child respect for others.

I’ve always believed that if I’m willing to criticize someone, I need to be willing to look in a mirror to see if I posses that same fault. Before I had kids of my own, I was very critical of mothers in the grocery store who could not keep their kids under control throughout the whole store.

After I had my kids, I learned that going through the grocery store is one of the most challenging things to do with small children. I feel bad for the negative thoughts that ran through my head when I saw those mothers struggling, but this would be an example of teaching your child respect for others at a very young age. You don't scream in the grocery store because you're bothering a lot of people you don't even know. A small child will not understand the exact message, but you still need to teach them that screaming at the grocery store in unacceptable behavior.

I can say, though, that to this day I feel bad for those mothers who are struggling in the grocery store. I still get irritated with the parents who show no signs of attempting to keep their children under control in public. If your one year old is letting out screams just to hear her voice echo in the store, at least attempt to stop her. I know a one year old may not understand what you’re saying and that a screaming echo is very fun, but you need to at least attempt to teach her what’s right and what’s wrong in public.

This story may not totally relate to the topic at hand, but I just thought of it as I was talking about taking your kid through a store and it makes me laugh every time I think of it. I had a daycare mom who was a single mom. Her boyfriend had just bought a house and she was helping with the interior decorating. They went to the home improvement store and were standing near bathroom fixtures trying to decide what would look best in his bathroom. As she turned around to check on her four year old, he was using the toilet out for display.

Back to the topic of respect for others, I think that teaching kids respect for their elders is another lost art. When my parents used to use that term, I thought they were talking about respecting the grandparents of the world. As I became an adult and experienced such a lack of respect from preschoolers and grade schoolers, I learned that term meant respect any adult.

I recently heard a story from a lady who is a grandmother volunteering at a local grade school. She was helping out in the kindergarten class and accidentally called a little boy by the wrong name. When she realized it, she apologized and explained that she was trying really hard to learn everyone's name. He told her she wasn't doing a very good job. As the story was relayed, it was funny and we laughed. But what really matters is that the little boy did not know enough to show respect and patience for this lady who was nice enough to volunteer in his classroom. It should be mandatory to teach your child how to speak to adults. I feel the children of today speak to adults like they are speaking to one of their friends and that is just not right.

In addition to learning respect for their elders, children need to be taught respect for other people’s property. If you don’t own it, you have no right to mistreat or damage it. If you borrow something from someone, make sure to treat it better than if it was your own. When you return it, it should be in better condition than when you borrowed it, if possible.