11 Old-Fashioned Lessons Brilliant Parents Still Teach Their Kids

There is no such thing as a “perfect parent,” but there are incredibly important ways parents can show up for their children—teaching them empathy, compassion, trust, respect, and honesty in ways that really add value to their lives, even into adulthood . This kind of profound impact lives on in how parents model behavior, teach important lessons, and even emotionally support their children during difficult times.

while modern parenting has certainly caused debate in modern online discussions, there are some old-fashioned lessons that brilliant parents still teach their children that can add nuance to new parenting styles and initiatives. From teaching emotional intelligence to contextualizing self-care and confidence, sometimes the traditional way has more impact than modernized approaches.

Here are 11 old-fashioned lessons that brilliant parents still teach their kids

1. Expressing gratitude for the little things

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By modeling kind behavior, such as thanking your partner for coffee in the morning or holding the door open for a stranger, parents can ensure that their children grow up with a foundation of empathy to guide their interactions.

Conformable at Harvard Healthchildren who learn to express gratitude early in life will reap a number of positive benefits, from experiencing higher rates of happiness to living healthier and more fulfilled lives. Reaping the emotional benefits of spreading joy, empathetic people who value and express gratitude for the little things tend to cultivate better relationships, both with themselves and with others.

2. Tell the people in your life that you love them

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Expressing love can look different for each individual and unique relationship, experts at BetterHelp explain, but teaching children lessons about love doesn’t have to be complicated.

Just encouraging your children to tell friends and family members that they love them can be enough. Remembering to be thankful for the little things and learning about the sanctity of life can be profound enough for young minds to form their own gracious mindsets.

3. Taking responsibility for your mistakes

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Taking responsibility for your mistakes can be uncomfortable, even for adults, so expecting kids to perfect the art of self-awareness isn’t necessarily realistic. Conversely, parents who teach their children to take responsibility for productive mistakes that lead to growth and consequential mistakes that lead to constructive criticism plant the seeds of responsibility in their children early on.

Of course, modeling that behavior—in which parents take responsibility for their own mistakes and talk to their children about the importance of being honest and vulnerable—is most influential to young minds.

4. Stand up for what you believe

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Giving kids the keys to self-aware activism and open-mindedness starts with teaching them to trust. When children feel valued and celebrated for their unique identities at home, their anxieties about external validation and judgment don’t stop them from standing up for themselves and what they believe in.

Carey Wallace explains it the best advocates—whether in the realm of political advocacy or simply of personal confidence—tend to learn how to speak up for what they believe from their parents. They were given the knowledge, tools and resources to do so early in life, cultivating a lasting aura of confidence.

5. It’s okay to ask for help

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Asking for help can be intimidating, especially for adults who have been taught to be hyper-independent, self-centered with their success, and inherently self-indulgent. Of course, not everything is their fault. Children tend to learn how to interact with others and chase success away from their parents. When they aren’t taught that accepting help and asking for advice is actually productive, they fear it.

People asking for help and advice are usually perceived as more competent by their peers, meaning that children who learn this skill early in life are set up for success in a wide variety of arenas.

6. If you fall, get back up

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Reminding kids that making mistakes doesn’t equal failure can hone their ability to persevere and maintain a confident mindset into adulthood. Adult children who have been taught the old-fashioned lesson of falling down and getting right back up face challenges and curiously engage in conversations, activities and situations in which they are not fully confident.

There is power in discomfort, especially for young adults and children who are still developing their identities and navigating their personal lives, as communications expert and filmmaker Ashley Robertson explain. By instilling this lesson in children early in life, you teach them how to navigate conflict in relationships, succeed through challenges at work, and prioritize their own personal well-being.

7. Admit when you’re wrong

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Teaching kids to admit when they’re wrong not only has a profound impact on the health of their relationships, it teaches them to be comfortable with discomfort. Even in high-pressure situations or struggling with uncomfortable emotions such as embarrassment, children who have been taught to take responsibility and apologize are generally more self-aware adults than those who have not. former.

By modeling this kind of behavior at home and leading with empathy in the face of disappointmentparents can make sure their children are equally comfortable in daunting situations and accountable for their own mistakes, shortcomings, and passively hurtful actions.

8. Be kind to everyone

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Parental consultant Albiona Rakipi shared that teaching children empathy is not always the easiest undertaking, as the complexities of human life, love, and struggle can be overwhelming for a child without a contextualized perspective of the world. However, teaching them to lead with kindness and compassion when interacting with anyone is a good place to start.

Not only are they more likely to build their own self-esteem through meaningful interactions with friends, peers, teachers, and even strangers, but they tend to cultivate healthier relationships that influence their identities early in life.

9. Respect others, but also respect yourself

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Teaching children to respect themselves and others seems like a basic principle, but it’s often harder to achieve given the accessibility of technology, the self-esteem and mental health struggles of younger generations, and of course the dilemmas modern parenting, such as relearning emotional intelligence.

Conformable experts at Positive Parenting Solutionsteaching children lessons about respect begins at home with parents cultivating a safe space for children’s voices to be heard and valued. In addition to respecting other people, you would teach children about self-respect and confidence starts with parents who already prioritize healthy habits in their own lives.

We learn how to respect ourselves by watching our parents take care of themselves, according to a study from The Journal of Early Adolescence. Although it might feel like an old-school lesson, respecting ourselves and others is critically important to our adult relationships, well-being, and life.

10. Honesty is the best policy

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Conformable Greater Good Science Centerteaching children about trust and honesty is fundamental to the health of their future relationships. Of course, in addition to discussing the importance of honesty with their children to teach them this lesson, they should also model honesty themselves and respond to their children’s dishonesty with firm consequences.

11. Patience is a virtue

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Given the our culture is based on instant gratificationmany children today struggle with patience. While teaching the principle is much more difficult, with the accessibility of technology and the concerns of raising young children, there are several ways parents can model healthy behavior with specific phrases and actions.

By creating small opportunities to praise patience every day and modeling their own patience in the face of exciting opportunities, parents can ensure that their children understand the value of patience in their personal and professional lives as they grow.

Zayda Slabbekoorn is a staff writer with a BA in Social and Political Relations and Gender Studies, focusing on psychology, relationships, self-help, and human interest stories.