Caught Not Taught

One of the greatest lessons we need to learn as parents is that we may be able to teach academics to our children but most of our habits and attitudes are caught, not taught. Some of the things that we pass on are big and some are small. In our family my husband has a habit of tutting when things don't go quite right. Each one of the children in turn have copied him, but he certainly never gave them lessons. This is a small thing that doesn't matter, but other things do.

Children see very clearly. They may only be small, but they know where your priorities are. You don’t fool them one bit! What they will copy is not what you say - unless it is profane and then you only have to say it once - but what you do, which really is only a reflection of your heart attitude anyway.

How then am I going to make sure my child catches the right things? Easy, make sure that what you say matches what you do!  Fortunately, our children are under no delusions about our perfection. They love us despite our imperfections. What they will copy is what they see as our priorities, so our priorities must be right. We need as parents to see our children as our primary responsibility and spend the time with them.