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Children learn respect easily; they also learn disrespect easily. And the easiest way for them to learn either is to watch and listen to you! So if you respect them, and your spouse and your parents, they will learn to respect you and your spouse and your parents. Easy enough, right?

However, too many parents don't respect themselves, even, so they can't teach or show respect for someone else. So first, you must learn to respect yourself! Remember that you are only a human being, but that you are NOT an animal, other than in the scientific sense of the word. You walk on two feet; you pick up things with your hands; you speak words and you hear words, and the words can be formed into sentences that others can understand. You are HUMANS, not animals! Therefore, you deserve respect, even if you don't have a college degree, or maybe even dropped out of school. You may not have a job, or not be able to go out and work, but you are still a person! Therefore, you deserve respect, and the first step in receiving the respect of other people is to respect yourself!

Next, respect others. No matter who they are, how old or young they are, or whether they are hard workers or bums, respect the fact that they are human, and therefore deserve respect. So respect people, in general. That includes babies. They deserve respect, also, because they are human and have great potential. The respect they receive helps them learn to respect themselves and others.

Respect those in authority. Never, never, undermine any authority in your children's eyes. If you have to rant about someone in authority, don't let your children hear you do it; it will come back to haunt you. When they get older, and you do something or order them to do something that they think is not right, they will rant back at you, because they have heard you rant about the things you didn't like about the person you answer to. So don't undermine the authority of anyone, in your children's hearing or sight.

Especially, show respect toward each other. You, as the parents, have the responsibility of teaching your children, and the best teaching tool ever devised is personal experience. If you want your children to respect you, show respect to your children, but also to your spouse. That way, all the family benefits. You and your spouse benefit, because the respect you show to each other helps strengthen your marriage; your children benefit because they learn respect through watching you-and they learn to show respect to those they love. And your community benefits, because you won't be wasting the time and money spent on the police coming to your house to stop fights between you and other members of the family; you won't have your children causing problems disrupting classes in school or creating trouble in town.

So the very best way to teach your children to respect you is the same way you learned to respect your own parents. Give them a positive role model to learn from, and you won't have to worry about respect; it will be returned to you a hundred-fold!

Learn more about this author, Barbara A. Black.
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