RESPECT

This word as with most words has many different "meanings" to different people. It is a powerful word!I have a rule (oh no not that again) in my class "Respect Everyone." When the children first see that rule I ask them what respect means. I hear: Be nice to people, say please and thank-you, don't hit people, say yes ma'am and no ma'am, etc. I tell the children that those are all good ways to respect someone and I continue to guide them into the definition I use for the word. I want them to understand the meaning of respect in my class. I ask them if they have ever heard the "Golden Rule." Many of them sadly do not know it. By the end of their first year with me they do. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. I let them know you don't have to "like" someone to respect them, "like" has nothing to do with it. We have had some very good discussions about what the Golden Rule means and it helps them to learn how to respect people. If we treat people they way we want to be treated that is RESPECT.

The Quote:

Respect for ourselves guides our morals, respect for others guides our manners.
~Laurence Sterne

 The Drawing: