In today's culture the deprivation of morality seems to pervade into every realm of society; the home, the school, the church, the government, the media, etc. Why has our country apparently become void of components that encompass the definition of a moral society or rather, a moral person? Who is responsible for helping today's children develop into morally, ethically strong adults? Does it take a community to develop a moral child, as Hillary Rodham Clinton suggested back in the 1990s, or is left up to the child himself to seek out morality guidelines throughout his life experience? Perhaps morality is only developed when the parents decide to guide or train the offspring they have brought into the world, thus ensuring a morally developed person.
[...] The first level of moral development, known as the preconventional level, entails the first two stages of “obedience-punishment orientation” and “instrumental and relativist orientation.” In these stages children will obey an authoritative figure, like their parents, simply because they want to be rewarded for good behavior or because they do not wish to be punished for bad behavior. The next level of development, the conventional level, contains stages three and four known as the “good girl nice orientation and the and order orientation.” During these stages children look to adults and other authoritative figures in order to figure out what is expected of them in terms of morality. [...]
[...] The area of discipline is not agreed upon by most psychologists, although they do agree that children must be disciplined in order to show them what the parents' moral expectations are. It is this area of discipline where the parenting styles play an important role. Research has been done to show that autocratic and permissive parenting train children to have little or no self-control. Autocratic parenting is when parents tell children to do something because they said to and that is it. [...]
[...] Children will be exposed to other ideas via the media, their peers, teachers, other authoritative figures, however, it is the parents' responsibility to teach and train their children according to the moral values they hold dear. Our society can be a morally better place if only parents will take more concern for their children in providing a better moral example in themselves. Every individual will develop to a certain level of morality, but if parents want to see their children reach the highest level of development in Kohlberg's theory, the parents must be the foundation by providing the example. The moral development of children lies within their parents. Reference Page Begley, S., [...]
[...] They even permit the children to discuss their feelings on the rules, however, that does not mean the parents will change their rules. Therefore, when a child does do wrong, he will be disciplined but he will also be told how he can fix the behavior that was wrong in the eyes of his parents. In authoritative parenting, children are more likely to obey the rules and develop respect for their parents' guidelines. The other virtues of self-control, respect, kindness, tolerance, and fairness simply need to be modeled in order for the children to portray these qualities towards others. [...]
[...] The idea of social orientation simply means that the parents provide a secure attachment for their children and that they are responsive to their needs. In regards to self-control, the parents need to teach children how to react to situations without blowing up, screaming, crying, throwing a tantrum, etc. Parents are to model the correct behavior in their own lives when someone cuts them off on the highway or the waiter drops a plate of food onto their lap. Children are smart and will be able to see if the parents are exhibiting self-control or not when unwanted situations arise. [...]
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