by Wayne Leon Learmond

Created on: March 05, 2011

With children, their minds are not unlike a blank canvass which can be shaped and formed. Who shapes and forms the mind of a child? Adults, pure and simple. From the moment that they are born, their minds are 'untouched' by any outside influence. However, depending on what type of family they are born into, will depend on what values they will have.

If a child is unfortunate enough to be born into a family that has no moral and basic values, then they may very well grow up in not having any value in themselves...or others around them. Indeed, the biggest influence on their young lives are their mother and father {one can also add to the mix, grandmother and grandfather too}.

It is the major influence of parents - and grandparents - that lay the foundations, and help form opinions, within a child's mind. They learn from their parents and grandparents to appreciate their elders, and be thankful for what they have. They learn to be respectful, kind-hearted and to treat everyone how they themselves would like to be treated.

These are the foundations that should be laid within a child’s mind - whether they live in a two-parent family or one. There is no excuse for bad manners, for disrespect of elders, and for anti-social behaviour. For where are these traits picked up from? Where do they begin? At home. Everything begins at home.

It is from the home that the foundations are laid. It is where we pick up our habits that can last us a lifetime - for the good or bad. So it is at home that values are taught. Yes, as we grow, we are influenced too by friends, extended family members, television, the media, and society as a whole. But it is from the home, and from our parents and grandparents that we first pick up our values.

Values cannot be 'bought' they have to be taught, and we can only get them from watching our parents and grandparents. We watch their habits, and we listen to the good advice that they give us throughout our childhood. This advice, these 'morals', and values, if they are the right ones, can stand us in good stead for the rest of our lives.

A child born into a family whose parents have no time for them, who are cast aside and left to their own devices, time and again, is a recipe for trouble to come in later life. Every single child deserves a loving parent or parents, to help guide them through their childhood. They need their parents for advice, and it is to our parents and grandparents that we turn too when something is troubling us.

However

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