Will Your Child Stand for His Core Values?

Parents often times are happy to send their children to college, but end up feeling fear and trepidation. Your offspring, the people who have given your life meaning, will depart your sphere of control and step into a universe of foreign ideas. If you are very conservative, then there is definitely reason for you to be terrified and worried.

The majority of parents make every effort to raise their children well. They try to teach their children the tenets that will help them become decent, self-supporting adults who will embrace qualities such as honesty, trustworthiness, self-reliance, and kindness, just to name a few. In households where parents have thoughtfully shared their faith and values with their children, those qualities are the most apparent.

College professors consider it their obligation to free their students from the conservative beliefs of their parents. Even the best parenting can come unraveled when your child's cherished beliefs are attacked in the absence of preparation.

Exposing your adolescent to inspirational ideals in a systematic way gives them a strong foundation of beliefs to stand on. Teach them to participate actively, and help them express out loud why what they are doing is important. They could take an oath of chastity and wear a "True Love Waits" purity ring to encourage their friends and acquaintances to do similarly. They could help with a church mission project, gathering collections in the form of clothing and money for a project on which they are working. The ability to express to others the worthiness of their cause is imperative, especially when they are seeking donations.

Their cause doesn't need to be about religion either. Some might enjoy working with animals. For example, the SPCA needs volunteers to encourage people to get their pets spayed or neutered to prevent the over-breeding that results in having to destroy animals. Taking a stand for a clean environment would lead to a commitment and work could be done with the local community by picking up trash from public places.

You will want to look for a worthwhile cause that also appeals to your child's imagination. The cause needs to have a positive message, and it needs to be something your child can believe in and understand thoroughly. This will give them the confidence and experience they need to stay true to their beliefs and principles. It takes time and experience to stand up for what you believe in.

We have all watched rebellious young people rioting and demonstrating on TV, and we've asked ourselves, "What are they thinking?" Maybe the problem is they aren't thinking; they are just following the crowd because they never learned how to stand up to peer-pressure or a charismatic leader, defending what they know is correct.

While your children are still young, you need to instill core values into their hearts and give them the courage to stand up for what they know is right. To put it simply, yet effectively: "If you don't stand for something, you will fall for anything."