How Can Families Practice Respect?

Minding Manners

• Instill respectful manners in your children by modeling them at home and expecting children to use manners. Teaching children good manners instills values and teaches consideration, advises child psychologist Dr. Kenneth N. Condrell, with the Fisher-Price website. Examples of manners include saying ̶0;please,̶1; ̶0;thank you̶1; and ̶0;excuse me̶1; when appropriate. Use these phrases consistently with your children and prompt them to use them, also. Behaving with respectful manners also includes having an attitude of helpfulness and concern toward others, which is a foundation of respect.

Teach Tolerance

• When families display an attitude of tolerance and acceptance toward others, children learn important lessons of outgoing respect, suggests the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, in a piece on the Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration Building Blocks website. Avoid making prejudiced or intolerant comments about other people, especially when children might overhear your conversation. When you have an open and affirming attitude that accepts differences in others without prejudice, your children usually learn to accept others, also.

Quality Communication

• Positive speaking and active listening within a family teaches children how to communicate respectfully, suggests psychologist Dr. Melanie Greenberg, writing for the "Psychology Today" website. Parents can demonstrate respect with encouraging statements and by not talking down to children in a way that belittles them. Respectful listening demonstrates value and importance by focusing when your child speaks, maintaining eye contact and paraphrasing messages to ensure understanding. As children grow watching, hearing and experiencing respectful communication in the family, they usually adopt these skills in their own interactions with others.

Consistency and Promises

• Keeping promises and enforcing expectations consistently demonstrates respect, according to therapist John Peterson, with the GoodTherapy.org website. Inconsistent discipline and a lack of boundaries show disrespect because the parent prioritizes personal feelings over parenting. Following through with promises ̵1; both disciplinary, and playing a game after homework, for example ̵1; demonstrates respect to children. When you treat your children this way consistently, they usually follow your example and demonstrate respect to others.