You cannot teach your children what you cannot define. Read more to learn how to label your family’s values as an important first step raising happy, healthy, and value-driven children.
You may be struggling to put a name on the values you want to teach to your children. It can be very useful to firmly identify which values are central to your family so that you can talk to your children, in age appropriate language, specifically about what should guides them in making decisions and choosing actions.
Tips on how to start raising value-driven children
Obviously, every family is different and has different ideas about what is important and what it means to be a good person. There is no definitive set of values that all parents must teach to their children to ensure success. Every family is unique and has the freedom to choose what is best for them.
However, to help your children navigate social interactions, be successful in school, and be pleasant people to be around, there are a few values that transcend the differences between most families. These values include: honesty, respect, and self-control. It is very difficult for children to learn how every person has both rights and responsibilities if not taught honesty, respect, and self-control. Therefore, most families can start with these three values while determining which other values are important to teach their children.
In order to transmit values to children, it is imperative to provide a consistent, transparent, and clear definition of what your family believes so that your children have a well-defined idea of what they are learning. Labeling abstract concepts such as values can be a helpful tool in clearly defining ideas for children who may still think concretely. It also helps you, as a parent, to maintain a consistent message because you have chosen a word that represents what you are trying to teach your children.
For this reason, here is an abbreviated list of some of the values you can choose to transmit to your children. This list contains over 400 values but is not exhaustive. Additionally, there are values that seem to be similar or synonymous with others. They are included because each value name represents an abstract idea, which means that a value’s name may mean something slightly different to one person than another. Therefore, all variations were included because some may resonate with you better than others.
Start now by giving a name to the values you want to share with your child
The goal of this exercise is to help you define your family’s values. Having a wide selection makes that easier, although it can feel overwhelming in the beginning. Start by marking the values that resonate to you when you read them. Then see if some of the values selected are similar in nature. Keep refining until you think you have found a list of values that help guide your life and that you want to share with your children.
Then, that’s it! This is the first step to raise happy, healthy, and value-driven children. You cannot teach what you cannot define. Knowing what names to label your family’s values is an important first step.
So, with no further delay, here are just some of the values you can choose to teach your children:
| Abundance
Acceptance Accessibility Accomplishment Accountability Accuracy Achievement Acknowledgement Activeness Adaptability Adoration Adroitness Advancement Adventure Affection Affluence Aggressiveness Agility Alertness Altruism Amazement Ambition Amusement Anticipation Appreciation Approachability Approval Art Articulacy Artistry Assertiveness Assurance Attentiveness Attractiveness Audacity Availability Awareness Awe Balance Beauty Being the best Belonging Benevolence Bliss Boldness Bravery Brilliance Buoyancy Calmness Camaraderie Candor Capability Care Carefulness Celebrity Certainty Challenge Change Charity Charm Chastity Cheerfulness Clarity Cleanliness Clear-mindedness Cleverness Closeness Comfort Commitment Community Compassion Competence Competition Completion Composure Concentration Confidence Conformity Congruency Connection Consciousness Conservation Consistency Contentment Continuity Contribution Control Conviction Conviviality Coolness Cooperation Cordiality Correctness Country Courage Courtesy Craftiness Creativity Credibility Cunning Curiosity Daring Decisiveness Decorum Deference |
Delight
Dependability Depth Desire Determination Devotion Devoutness Dexterity Dignity Diligence Direction Directness Discipline Discovery Discretion Diversity Dominance Dreaming Drive Duty Dynamism Eagerness Ease Economy Ecstasy Education Effectiveness Efficiency Elation Elegance Empathy Encouragement Endurance Energy Enjoyment Entertainment Enthusiasm Environmentalism Ethics Euphoria Excellence Excitement Exhilaration Expectancy Expediency Experience Expertise Exploration Expressiveness Extravagance Extroversion Exuberance Fairness Faith Fame Family Fascination Fashion Fearlessness Ferocity Fidelity Fierceness Financial- independence Firmness Fitness Flexibility Flow Fluency Focus Fortitude Frankness Freedom Friendliness Friendship Frugality Fun Gallantry Generosity Gentility Giving Grace Gratitude Gregariousness Growth Guidance Happiness Harmony Health Heart Helpfulness Heroism Holiness Honesty Honor Hopefulness Hospitality Humility Humor Hygiene Imagination Impact Impartiality Independence Individuality Industry |
Influence
Ingenuity Inquisitiveness Insightfulness Inspiration Integrity Intellect Intelligence Intensity Intimacy Intrepidness Introspection Introversion Intuition Intuitiveness Inventiveness Investing Involvement Joy Judiciousness Justice Keenness Kindness Knowledge Leadership Learning Liberation Liberty Lightness Liveliness Logic Longevity Love Loyalty Majesty Making a difference Marriage Mastery Maturity Meaning Meekness Mellowness Meticulousness Mindfulness Modesty Motivation Mysteriousness Nature Neatness Nerve Noncomformity Obedience Open-mindedness Openness Optimism Order Organization Originality Outdoors Outlandishness Outrageousness Partnership Patience Passion Peace Perceptiveness Perfection Perkiness Perseverance Persistence Persuasiveness Philanthropy Piety Playfulness Pleasantness Pleasure Poise Polish Popularity Potency Power Practicality Pragmatism Precision Preparedness Presence Pride Privacy Proactivity Professionalism Prosperity Prudence Punctuality Purity Rationality Realism Reason Reasonableness Recognition Recreation Refinement Reflection Relaxation Reliability Relief |
Religiousness
Reputation Resilience Resolution Resolve Resourcefulness Respect Responsibility Rest Restraint Reverence Richness Rigor Sacredness Sacrifice Sagacity Saintliness Sanguinity Satisfaction Science Security Self-control Selflessness Self-reliance Self-respect Sensitivity Sensuality Serenity Service Sexiness Sexuality Sharing Shrewdness Significance Silence Silliness Simplicity Sincerity Skillfulness Solidarity Solitude Sophistication Soundness Speed Spirit Spirituality Spontaneity Spunk Stability Status Stealth Stillness Strength Structure Success Support Supremacy Surprise Sympathy Synergy Teaching Teamwork Temperance Thankfulness Thoroughness Thoughtfulness Thrift Tidiness Timeliness Traditionalism Tranquility Transcendence Trust Trustworthiness Truth Understanding Unflappability Uniqueness Unity Usefulness Utility Valor Variety Victory Vigor Virtue Vision Vitality Vivacity Volunteering Warmheartedness Warmth Watchfulness Wealth Willfulness Willingness Winning Wisdom Wittiness Wonder Worthiness Youthfulness Zeal |
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About the instructor
Proactive Parenting
Deanna Marie Mason PhD
More than 20 years of clinical experience helping families:
Bachelor's Degree in Registered Nursing, Master’s Degree in Pediatric Nurse Practitioner and PhD in Nursing. University professor, patient education specialist, pediatric researcher, published author and reviewer to first-line international scientific journals, continuous philanthropic activity related to health promotion and education, wife and mother of two children.
