Children Mimic What You Do

Posted November 5, 2013

Being the father of 6 and the grandfather of 15 I look back over my life, especially after reading the following comments, and wonder were my lessons to my children always what I wanted them to learn. I can tell you they were not. At times in my life I did not respond or act as I want them to. Be careful what you say. Be mindful of how you act and What you do. Especially around the children because their eyes are wide and their ears are big.

That is one of the reasons I am doing my best to help fathers today – because Children Mimic What You Do.

“Children are natural mimics; they act like their parents in spite of every effort to teach them good manners.”

-Author unknown

ScreamFree’s Take

Kids are more absorbent than we’ll ever know, even though it seems like just the opposite is true. They watch us with eyes and hearts that simply do not forget. The things that we try to teach them are well and good. It is important that we teach them how to write a thank you note or how to be a good friend. What we must realize is that those intentional lessons can only go so far. It is the unintentional lessons that we teach which our children will remember forever.

Think of it this way: How do you want your child’s romantic relationships to look? How strong do you want their work ethic to be? How generous do you want them to be with those less fortunate? Instead of telling them how to do all of these things, focus on the way that you do them right now. That way, when your kids are grown and they find themselves sounding just like their mother or father, they will be proud to do so.

-Hal Runkel, LMFT, Author of ScreamFree Parenting & ScreamFree Marriage