On a visit to China or while your studying in China, you might notice how important family is within the culture. This and the potential of China depends on raising the current generation into mature and helpful, contributing members of society means that parents play an important role. Fathers in particular have a unique way of imparting lessons onto their children and helping them reach maturity.

 

There are a variety of reasons that dads help their Chinese children reach maturity and grow into healthy, productive adults. In this article, we will take a look at 5 ways that dads teach their children and help them mature.

 

1. Independence/Not Being Overbearing

 

Maturity is a quality that children derive from dealing with difficult situations and having to discover solutions on their own. It might seem that this is counterproductive. After all, isn’t a father’s role to protect their child and keep them safe? Well, yes.

 

However, they also have a responsibility to teach a child to stand on their own two feet. They should be there for their child but they shouldn’t make their child dependent on them. The goal is, of course, for a child to feel like they can always come to their father with their problems but they should also feel like that they are confident and resourceful enough to handle problems on their own as they come to them.

 

2. Teach Them Responsibility

 

A lot of what dads do for kids has to do with nurturing and loving them. However, there are some lessons that children learn aren’t always their favorite. For instance, dads are in a great position to teach their children responsibility.

 

This can be done in a variety of ways. The most common choice, though, is to teach a child through the process of giving out chores. Usually these start small when a child is young. For instance, they may be told to pick up their toys at the end of the day or make their beds when they get up in the morning. As they get older, more responsibility is given such as adding chores like taking out the trash or helping with preparing dinner. This eases them into greater responsibility that is expected of them as they get older.

 

This is usually done by offering the child an incentive, at least at first. As an incentive, most dads use an allowance. When a child does their chores, they get an allowance and when they don’t, they don’t receive an allowance or they might get grounded. It works much in the same way that a real world job would but eases them into responsibility more lightly and effectively.

 

 

3. Teach Them About Tradition

 

In China, culture and tradition are extremely important. As such, it is the parents’ role to pass these traditions down. As the father figure, a dad is in the position to teach their children these traditions.

 

In this way, fathers are also has the chance to show a child how to raise a family of their own. In all likelihood, these children will grow one day to have families of their own. Then, they will be able to pass these traditions onto their children.

 

4. Encouraging Them to Take Risks

 

It may seem contradictory to say that dads should encourage their children to take risks. This doesn’t mean that dads should be pushing their children to go skydiving or bungee jumping, but rather that they should push their kids to take positive risks for their future.  For instance, later in life, applying to a college they might not think they’ll get into or switching jobs to further themselves in their career. As a child, they might encourage them to take a more experimental approach to a school assignment or to try out a new hobby.

The idea here is to teach children that there is a concept of risk and reward. While you shouldn’t take fruitless risks, a father can teach their children that certain risks reap reward. In the end, no reward really comes without any risk.

 

5. Living as an Example of Maturity

 

Finally, fathers set an example by how they live. When children see their father, they see someone they can look up to. So, when a father takes responsibility for his family and shows kindness to those around him, their children will strive to follow that example.

 

However, this comes with a huge amount of responsibility for any father. This is because children will follow their father’s example - good or bad. In other words, fathers have to be very careful about the image they lead their children with. It has to be authentic and strong but they also have to show softer characteristics such as kindness and empathy.