“Time and tide wait for none” sensitizes all of us about the importance of time. Wise person feels and acts on essence of this proverb. Everyone has only 24 hours in a day. Our fortune is decided by the way we utilize our time. Quality of being punctual is one of the greatest virtues of person. What is punctuality? Punctuality is conscious effort to complete a task on time. Punctuality is etiquette. A punctual person always lives a complacent life.
Punctuality- What does punctuality mean? How do we develop sense of punctuality in children?
Punctuality is an attitude. Punctual people always respect the values of time. Everyone has same time but some people utilize it rationally and some people show carelessness. This makes a big difference in our life. What does punctuality mean? How do we develop sense of punctuality in children? How to we develop self awareness for punctuality in children? Oxford Dictionary defines punctuality as arriving, doing something, or happening at the expected time/correct time, timely, on time etc. In fact, these are essential qualities of a punctual person.
Punctuality is an essential skill to live an integrated life.
Parent, teacher and surroundings play great role in developing a sense of punctuality among children. Parent lays the foundation of developing right habit of punctuality. Punctuality is essential skill to live a peaceful and happy life. Sense of being late develops stress in our life. Stress is mother of diseases in our life. Therefore, if we wish to live a stress free and peaceful life, we should develop this habit right from the childhood. Human being always aspires to explore and learn new things in life. When a child starts forming a habit, we should initiate developing sense of being punctual at this stage. It can be ridiculous to think but this starts with developing habit of waking up in the morning at certain time, going washroom, brushing and bathing on same time. Gradually it helps a child to prepare himself for going to school on time. Generally it is observed that child does not wake up at right time because parent could not make him ready for school at right time so that child reaches bus stop late and story goes so on and so forth.
Child observes culture of his family.
Punctuality is prime skill that should be instilled when a child’s mind able to recognize and learn new things. Parent creates a positive aura for this. Child observes culture of his family. If he finds a gap between words and action either by guardian, parents, or elder family members then he starts ignoring your moral boost up. It may be difficult task for a parent to follow the sense of punctuality at home, but child copies different habits directly from parent. Habit is not an inborn quality of man. We start learning it right from our childhood. Generally it is observed, if parent is punctual in performing different tasks at home, child easily grasps it and acts accordingly in different situations.
Help your child to prepare him in advance before school time
Parent prepares his child to go to school on time. We should instill habit of reaching on bus stop at right time. Sensitize your child to complete all necessary activities on time to reach bus stop timely every day. In fact, the day a child initiates himself to reach bus stop on time, parent achieves his target. When we talk to school driver for reporting late in the school, they always share interesting story of different parent. Driver has to wait to receive the child because parent did not send child on time. It may be ego issue with some parents but sometimes parent fails to prepare their child on time due to various family reasons.
Keen Observation, frequent reminder and check ensure completion of work on time
To complete a task on time is characteristic feature of successful students. We observe in the classroom that out of 10 students in a class 6 students always complete their class work and home work on time, 2 students complete it slight late and teacher works very hard for last two students to complete the work on time even then students could not do. These students’ have habit of delaying the task. They know how to complete the task but use a casual way/disinterestedness. Parent can play a crucial role here. If s/he observes her child on daily basis, remind him to complete the task and follow him to check whether he has completed the task or not can be the best techniques to develop a sense of punctuality in the child.
Rapid change in our life styles and our life
Life styles have been changing rapidly in every 2 years. It is amalgamated in our family life. Wise parent tries his best to maintain a balance. If a parent develops a rule to go to bed daily on a particular time, child starts doing this. It becomes his habit; he cannot stop himself going to bed on time. We ask our child to go to bed on time but do not go to bed ourselves on time. This creates a conflict of interest between child and parent. Parent is role model for his son and daughter. Child learns several good or bad habits directly from coping his father and mother. Do we complete some tasks on time? Can we awake at right time and go to bed on right time? Can we fulfill promises to our kids on time? Do we reach to bus stop/railway station/airport on time to avoid hassle? Our child is noticing us. We need not to talk much but our action speaks a lot and can have great impact on our child.
At Initial Stage of Life:-
Help your child to awake at right time
Help your child to brush and bath on time
Help your child to prepare school bag on time
Help your child to reach bus stop on time
Help your child to complete home work on time
Help your child to go to play ground on time
Help your child to finish lunch and dinner on time
Help your child to do self study on time
At Later Stage of Life:-
Through parent’s keen observation and timely reminder, child will surely develop an attitude to become punctual in his life.
When we talk on importance of time, we should give respect to each task so that we can perform that task on time. Child is completely an empty pot what we show to our kids, that reflects in his personality. Punctuality is an attitude which demands strong will power and determination to complete a task on time. It demands a lot of sacrifice from us. Guardian motivates and encourages a child’s right act at right time so that child can feel intrinsic motivation for performing day to day task with a sense of being punctual. Child does not learn several things on putting pressure.
Wise parent creates positive aura and positive culture at home, so that children develop right understanding for different values of life, which is essential for us and lays the foundation of an integrated personality.
Rajeev Ranjan
Indian Educationist
Teaching Human Values- Importance of Developing Essential Values Among Students
Great work👌👌👌
Very well said sir.👌😊