Developing Social Responsibility in Teens

Teaching Morals

• The first step towards developing social responsibility in children is to teach them about moral values and ethics. This step needs to be taken before the teenage years begin, so that the child has an idea of the "right" way of treating people from the day he is old enough to interact with them. Parents can teach their children by using themselves as role models and by telling them simple lesson-based stories. Teens should be well-taught about ethical rights and wrongs, even things as simple as knowing that lying is unacceptable.

Discouraging Negative Attitude

• Positivity is an essential trait for character development. Parents who discourage their children when they show a negative attitude towards people and situations can help their children in developing social responsibility. For an instance, if you have a maid at home, teach your child to speak respectfully to her as an elder. Such a basic lesson easily settles in young minds, and they develop a positive state of mind about speaking and dealing with adults. Teachers can play their part by punishing students for disrespecting teachers or other classmates.

Communication and Cooperation

• To fulfill their social responsibilities in an adequate manner, it is important for teens to learn to communicate and cooperate with other members of society. Teachers can play their part in developing better communication skills in teens by arranging activities that involve communication, such as conducting morality-based plays. Teens can be taught to develop cooperation skills through arranging community service-based programs and trips. As an example, your teen could spend two hours a week distributing food to homeless at a soup kitchen or food bank, or picking litter up off the streets. Such activities create a sense of affection towards fellow human beings and encourage teamwork.

Warnings

• Teaching a teenager about social responsibilities is a very tough task to accomplish due to teens' carefree attitudes towards everyone and everything in life. A little strictness is required on the part of parents, as well as teachers, to achieve the desired goal. Parents can warn their children about their attitude and behavior and can also punish them by grounding, or even sending them away to a boot camp or boarding school. Teachers also need to take strict action against the students who don't uphold their social responsibilities and can do so by punishing them or sending official warnings through the school's discipline system.