Factors Influencing Moral Development Among Children

Once there lived a poor man in a village whose name was Heinz. He had a family of three members including his wife and a two year old daughter. Once Heinz’s wife fell ill and was dying of a disease that could be cured if he could get a certain medicine. When he asked the pharmacist, he was told that he could get the medicine, but only at a very high price - one that Heinz could not possibly afford. So the next evening, Heinz broke into the pharmacy and stole the drug to save his wife's life. Was Heinz right or wrong to steal the drug?

It sometime becomes difficult to define what morality is. In our general thinking, we consider things morally upgraded those which are acceptable by our family and in the broad manner by our society. Every particular society has its norms and regulations which may vary from the other one. It is noticed that there are many things which may be taboo is a particular society, but in others it comes under a custom. For example, in many cultures taking non-vegetarian items isn’t prohibited, where as in many cultures sacrificing living beings is completely against social customs. Thus it can be said that the moral values differ from place to place and society to society. But even then also, there are certain general rules that every culture follows. Many people complain that in todays fast pace time, the social and cultural values are abolishing day by day. The people are becoming morally degraded. The only way to save the world is to provide moral education to every child in a very early age. In our childhood days, our grandmothers used to tell us stories about different life situations containing moral lessons. These stories were of ample importance as from them we learn not only different social customs; also develop our knowledge as to how to lead a morally upgraded life.

The formative years of a child’s life is calling the best learning period. In this particular stage, whatever we learn stays with us throughout our life. Thus it is a vital time for teaching moral lessons to the kids. Different child development theories claim different rules as to how a child develops different skills. According to some theory, a child’s home environment and relationship between the parents influence the child’s personality and thinking to a large extent. Whereas some other theories suggest that children learn by imitating others such as their parents, grandparents, family members and neighborhood people. Though different theories suggest different ways, the family influence and parents relation with each other influences the upbringing of a child to a large extent. Moreover, the academic life also leaves its marks in our lifestyle and developmental process. Inside the four walls of the school, the character development of a child takes place. Thus many educationists and social groups are now raising their voice for including moral education in the school curriculum.