How a childs personality is formed by the age of 5

I was at a christening of a friend’s baby over the weekend. The priest was so inspirational and I really loved what he was saying about the celebration of life. He described how there is a shift in society and people are looking for a deeper meaning or for more spirituality. I do agree with this, I know that societies values have taken a turn for the worse some of the time in terms of advertising, values, obesity measures, cosmetic surgery, diets, exercise fads, but I also feel that people are realising that they need to slow down, that relaxation, meditation and taking time out of their busy life’s are so important in terms of longevity, wellbeing, relationships and enjoyment.

However, something he said really struck me. He was talking about how children mimic what their parents do; mimic what is going on around them. He described smtg that happened to him recently. He was having some building work done to the house. The builder arrived with his young son of 4 and asked the priest would he mind if his son was there as they could not arrange a sitter. The little boy came dressed like his father in work clothes and also had a toy belt of all the screwdrivers etc that his father was using around his waist. When the father started to work, the priest saw that the little boy was pretending to also be hitting the walls with his toys as if pretending to build etc.

What he was trying to say is that kids form their personalities by the age of 5. They are brought up by their parents and subject to their beliefs and values. It is so important to live a way that we want our kids to live. I know growing up my Mum was incredibly sensitive and also very upset and sometimes negative about the future as she was very sick. It is easy for kids to mimic this and feel the fear and set up a sense of control in their lives to avoid this fear.

Also if kids see and hear parents taking about themselves in negative ways, or diets or bad foods, or excessively exercising to lose weight, I think and feel that kids will grow up to mimic this and believe that your appearance is your self worth.

I just thought his analogy was very interesting and gave me a lot to think about in terms of what message I want to give out to the kids I teach and to my kids in the future..

Butterfly xx