Family values form the foundation for children to understand right from wrong and to make independent good decisions when you are not there to guide them. This becomes especially important when your child moves into their teen years.
Your family values define what you, as a family, think is important, what is good and how you want to live. These values may differ from one family to the next, however, there are some fundamental core values that tend to match within a societies’ values, such as love, kindness, trust, honesty, respect, generosity, courtesy and fairness, right and wrong.
Top Tips for establishing family values
- Begin by establishing your own values. Identify what you see as the most important values for you and your family at this time – discuss these with your partner if you have one.
- Discuss with the kids. Have an open discussion with your children to get their feedback on what they think is important.
- Create scheduled family time to discuss. Family meeting times or family activities are a great opportunity to explore and establish family values.
- Form a list of the top five or six values that you all think are important for your family. This will help to keep you and the family accountable.
- Embed these values in your daily life. Discuss how you could start to do these things more around the home. i.e. kindness – offering to help each other, being polite etc. Set yourselves a family challenge to try and work on one value each week. Report back at the next family meeting on your progress.
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