Give a thought when someone is rude to us. What do you feel? I am sure the feeling is negative and then these negative emotions either affects us and may even snow balled to affect the people who are with us at the moment in time. When we can see objectively that the negative emotion shown by the other person and we are aware to let it just be and not affect us. When we have this awareness we are much grounded and the situation is in our control.
Understanding that respect is important between parents and children allow us to foster a close relationship. When there is respect, there is love and where there is love, there is harmony. Frequently, relationships fall out due to disharmony. Our greatest wish for ourselves is to have harmony in the family and that works out to be good relationship between parents and children. When we have harmony in the family, the way we influence family and friends are from a positive emotion.
How do we foster harmony in the family? We foster harmony by having respect for each other. When we respect each other, we seek to understand the other person's perspective and reality. Reality is what we perceive and what we perceive is from our experiences in life. When we can understand each other's perceptions and beliefs, we have understanding. When we have understanding, we have tolerance. This fact stands true for dealing with others in our lives.
Respect is a call to others to recognize that we are individuals in our own right and we have our values attached to who we are. When we accord respect to another, we accept them as an individual in their own right. The saying "respect needs to be earned" is frequently heard when one person expects to be respected and the respect is not forthcoming. In this instance, there is a mismatch of understanding and hence there is disharmony. Respect is accorded to a person who has values and actions that stand steadfast and mostly have compassion in their dealings with people they interact. Their actions can be seen by many and recognized as a person whom commands respect and this respect is freely given in ways such as admiration and good feelings about the person.
Parents and children foster respect for each other by understanding themselves and their family members. When we have respect for each other, we have true understanding of what harmony is and the importance of harmony in the family. Family is the cornerstone of society and when we have families in harmony, we can have a harmonious society for all.