A family can only do so much to install morals and values in young people.
In your opinion, what other places are good?
Personally I think coaches, Scouts, and church are the best.
Programs and groups that get them into nature, scouts is one of them in this category.
Volunteering.
Soup Kitchens, Meals on Wheels, visiting the elderly or sick, claiming and cleaning public areas (park cleanup, waterway cleanup, roadside cleanup), Habitat for Humanity, fundraising for social works charities (clean water, sanitation, etc).
It isn’t the name of the group, it’s what the group spends time doing. Helping people who are less fortunate is the best way to develop a sense of empathy and community.
I agree with volunteering, but the kid has to want to do it, so doing something together with their friends might work.
I disagree, actually.
Kids don’t usually want to eat a balanced diet, but parents force them do to so.
Now, if your kid gets the walking heebie jeebies from old people, and really likes nature, you’re a dick parent if you make the kid volunteer in an old folk’s home instead of helping at a nature preserve or cleaning out a stream.
But it’s total bullshit that people only get benefits from activities if they intrinsically want to do them. That’s what good parenting is about - teaching kids HOW to intrinsically want to do good, and that’s going to require going outside their naturally self-centered comfort zone.
Only if you’re predisposed to think that they only place you can get morals and values are from sports and the Bible. Which, granted, does constitute a large portion of Americans.
I purposely kept my sons away from the church and scouts. Learning to follow black and white rules without question is the opposite of moral growth. Somehow, they grew up to have better morals, IMO, than most adults I’ve met. Sports were good source of understanding fair play but the coaches themselves, not so much sometimes.
I don’t think you have to teach good morals to most children. They just need to be protected form bad morals and from those who would define good morals in selfserving ways. Schools do a good job of that.
Teaching by example is the best way, imo.
You can force a kid to go to church, but he isn’t going to be listening very well.
And you can lecture people all you want but you can’t force them to believe anything you say.
In this case, I think if you sit down and talk with your kid and see what he or she is interested in, you might be able to come up with a way to incorporate some of the interest in the learning.
…and I wouldn’t automatically suggest that the family is always the best source of positive moral growth, either. I’ve seen various families that perpetuate elitism, racism, and scores of other socially undesirable mores and values (often prefaced with “it’s natural…”) from one generation to the next – and home-schooling the kids so they won’t be exposed to contrasting perspectives, as well. :mad:
–G!
…You’re the people
That we want to know…
…–Steve Perry (Journey)
…People and Places
…Departure