Parents always complain how difficult it is to teach children not to touch things that do not belong to them. This is especially the case with household ornaments and antiques. I always noticed this problematic behavior when children from different families get together; they end up creating a chaotic mess out of everything around them.
The question is whether children act and behave in such a way merely to discover their surroundings? Or do they do so because they are careless and messy?
From a young age, children usually learn to respect the rights of others. They learn this by dealing with people in the environment that they grow up in. They learn the rights of others and the boundaries they are not supposed to cross.
Families deal with this issue in two different ways. Some have no middle ground and tend to be very strict punishing their children when they behave chaotically and carelessly. Others are very lenient and never question or correct their children’s behavior or mistakes.
In both cases, parents’ reactions incite children to develop a sense of disrespect toward other people. Ultimately they may begin to develop a psyche of ignoring all redlines that they have been told not to cross. A sense of pressure always creates strong reactions and a far too strict or even lenient atmosphere creates similar results. The rights of children and their families tend to get lost and so both end up going around in circles. While growing up, this chaotic behavior becomes a daily habit and starts to control their thinking, psychological health and ultimately their daily lives, thus affecting even those around them.
To protect our children from this psychological and behavioral confusion we must get them accustomed to a disciplined life. They need to know their limits and boundaries, and be able to respect the rights of others. This sort of teaching develops a sense of awareness in children that they must achieve goals and organize their thoughts.
Children must know how to discuss freely in a disciplined way. They must feel comfortable to vent their inner feelings. They must be accustomed to deal with their personal belongings freely while maintaining respect for people around them. Children must learn discipline, they must become psychologically balanced, must acquire the art of behaving and dealing with others, and be able to value time and productivity.
For instance, children can be afforded the freedom to play with their toys, but they should know that they have no liberty to break or ruin them. They should be given the right to stay up late at night on the condition that they respect other people and do not bother or annoy anyone. Likewise, children should be given the right to look at ornaments kept in a house but they should know that they have no right to touch or ruin anything. These redlines teach children to be productive and respectful of the rights of others.
Disciplining children and clarifying boundaries do not necessarily mean that children have been deprived of their childhood needs of wanting to play, discover and be creative. We must remember that we need to teach our children to respect each individual and their personal freedoms. It’s also the right of children to be provided with means to fulfill their physical and psychological needs.
