Setting good example always a good idea

How do we help our children choose role models that won't let them down?

There are no super heroes in this world and role models are humans, and all humans at some point in their lives make mistakes. Some people, however, make major mistakes that ruin their lives as well as the lives of others.

In today's society, it is difficult to find role models for our children. Just look at the television shows your children are watching.

Many of the values depicted on television deal with promiscuity, drug and alcohol abuse as well as materialism. No subject is off limits anymore.

Our children are exposed to more negative scenarios than positive ones making our work as parents even more difficult.

Most experts will tell you that when children are asked who they look up to or who has influenced them in a positive ways many of them choose their parents or a family member.

On Families.com blogger Teresa McEntire wrote, Who is Your Child's Role Model? In her blog she shared statics taken from a survey of teenage girls done for Gillette Company. Surprisingly, "Forty six percent of teen girls chose their mothers as role models and trusted their advice over friends and celebrities."

In another study done by "Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine," "750 teenagers were surveyed and it was found that 42 percent named a relative as their greatest role model."

You don't have to be a genius to realize that the most important thing you can do as a parent is to set a good example.

Remember the saying, "Monkey see monkey do." Most of the time that's how parenting works, children end up mimicking the people around them without understanding the consequence just because that's what they have seen all their life.

In order to be able to influence your children you have to establish a relationship with them.

They have to feel that they can come to you with all of their problems and feel safe about asking questions and sharing their doubts and fears. But most of all, your children have to respect the way you live and treat others.

Parents need to be as honest as they can and admit when they are wrong. Don't just talk the talk. Be the example. Live your life setting a solid framework of values and ideals for your children to use as examples.

Maria Luisa Salcines is a freelance writer, certified parent educator and corporate empowerment consultant with The International Network for Children and Families in Redirecting Children's Behavior, Redirecting for a Cooperative Classroom, and Redirecting Corporate America. Contact her at her Web site at www.redirectingchildrenrgv.org.