How to use moral stories and online fun games to build character in your kids
Moral stories are a great way to build character in your child. Since children learn through playing games, apps that teach morals through games are an excellent tool for value education.
Building character
Building character in your kids is probably the most important thing that you can do as a parent. The character traits that a child develops stays with her throughout her life, for good or for bad. It is said that the lessons that a child learns before the age of 7 is what influences their life the most. So it is all the more important to teach your kids good morals and values while they are still young.
In today’s world, kids are exposed to so many different messages through television, internet, social media. Without adequate parental guidance it is easy for them to be led astray. The unfortunate reality is that most parents hardly have sufficient time to spend with their children, let alone teach them good values.
In this article we provide some surefire ideas that will allow you to help your child’s character development with minimal time investment from you.
Moral stories for your children
Moral stories are one of the time honored ways to teach your child good morals. If your kids are still in pre-school or not able to read by themselves, it is really helpful if you could read a short moral story to them just before they fall asleep. When they are at the age where they can read by themselves, take them to a book store and direct their attention to moral story books. Classics such as Aesop’s Fables, William Bennett’s Children’s Book of Virtues and the Panchatantra are a great place to start.
There are also a number of newer story books. I would recommend that you read the books yourself first before sharing it with your kid. It is important that the values espoused in any book resonates with you. At the end of the day, your children look to you as their parent for cues to model their behavior. If you are able to be a good role model for your kids, that will go a long way to ensure their robust character development, more than any moral story. For example, if you want them to eat healthy food, you can eat healthy food yourself and they will follow your example.
Finding the moral in short stories for kids
The stories that you read to your children do not always need to be moral stories. You can help your child to discover the moral in any story that they read. For example, if your child is reading Harry Potter, you could ask them what are some of the good character traits they have observed in the main characters. Friendship and courage are some character traits that Harry’s fans would immediately call out. More broadly, you could use every life event, movie or news item to teach your child good morals. A news item that covers a student who helped a homeless person would be a great opportunity to teach your young one, the value of helping those in need. The movie Rocky would be a great opportunity to discuss with your child the character traits that helped Rocky win over his bigger, stronger opponents.
Online fun games that help build character
One of the best ways to help your child build character is through games. In the age of the internet, there is no shortage of online games. However, you may need to look hard to find games that actually teach values. PBS has come up with some good games that help children develop good habits. Some of the classics are Daniel Tiger In the Bathroom, Doctor Daniel and Space Waste Odyssey.
I recently came across an app that includes everything that we talked about in this article and more. This Moralnet app has games that kids can play on their own to learn various morals and values. The game presents different scenarios to the child where they need to make a moral choice. The game rewards them every time they make the right choice. The app also has a section for moral stories. Kids can do finger painting, and share notes with their parents. Moralnet works on both IOS and Android phones and tablets.