Human Values Foundation

How parents and carers can help their children

Parents and carers obviously have a marked effect on influencing children and it is important that the values being considered in the school environment, serving as guidelines on how the learners interact positively with one another, are also understood and endorsed at home.

Over time, the principal values of Truth, Love, Peace, Right Action and Non-Violence, and a wide range of related ones, such as respect, honesty, integrity, compassion, happiness, courage and forgiveness, are progressively introduced to the pupils, perhaps during an assembly. Each topic in turn is often followed up throughout the school for a few weeks.

Values are seen as the “rules of the game” in organisations, be they schools, colleges, universities, businesses, communities, governments or families. The key to helping young people to adopt positive, creative values lies with leadership, which comes from adults in schools and other organisations, as well as the home environment.

Class, school and home rules make learners aware of values. To help in this learning process, parents and carers may find it rewarding to discuss the current value being focussed on at school and help their children with some of the activities and suggestions put forward to make sense of and imbibe the qualities associated with it.