Helping Your Child Learn Responsible Behavior - continued

Activities

As parents, sometimes we think that we must set aside particular times or create special situations in order to teach our children. But that is far from the truth when it comes to learning about responsibility. While it is important to have some times together when you won't be disturbed, the most ordinary situations in everyday life are filled with opportunities for sound teaching, if parents pay attention to them.

This booklet contains activities to encourage habits of responsibility in your child. Most of them are not, however, the kind of activities that you can do together for half an hour once a week. Instead, they are more like rules of thumb, ideas to build on. They illustrate the concepts introduced in the previous sections. They should stimulate your own thinking and your own ideas.

Just remember one thing: teaching our children about responsibility doesn't mean that we can't laugh or that we have to be grim. Our children should see that we can be serious about our principles, while still being able to play and have fun.

Dad, can I show you what we did in ballet class today?

Sure.

It was hard. We had to get way up on our toes and then twirl around like this.

Great. Let me try it. . .oops! Now, what's so funny about that? Well, OK. I guess we aren't all as graceful as you are.