Teaching Children Interpersonal Responsibility:
Teaching interpersonal responsibility means that children should be taught to take up responsibility of their behaviour while dealing with others.
• Children should be taught compassion i.e. how other person feels .They should be taught to respect other person’s feelings.
Example situation 1:
Brother: Mummy why is Disha(sister) sad today? (Brother asking about his sister)
Mother: Disha(sister) lost in the tournament. Do you remember when you lost in running race ?
Brother: Yes, I remember I was very sad and down.
Mother: So, what will you do?
Brother: I will give her a big hug and take her out to play.
Example situation 2 :
Brother: Mummy why is Disha so happy today? (Brother asking about his sister)
Mother: Disha won the tournament. Do you remember when you won running race ?
Brother: Yes, I remember I was very happy and escalated. I wanted to share my happiness with someone.
Mother: So, what you will do?
Brother: I will give her a big hug and celebrate her joy with her.
Teach children to be sensitive to others feelings. Teach them to share the joyous as well as sad moments of others.
• Children should be taught to work responsibly in a group.
You can make a group of children.Give them some theme to work on , it could be maintenance of the garden, maintenance of cleanliness of the building or the area, or creating awareness in your area about some issues etc . Give each child a responsibility .Maintain a chart of responsibility for each child. At the end of activity put remarks or smiling or sad faces depending upon how the child discharged his part of responsibility in the group activity.
• Let the child maintain his personal dairy in which he can maintain a record of how he behaved with his peers and how he tackled problematic situations. At the end of each week you can go through the dairy and make relevant remarks or suggestions.
• Children learn by observing . We being adults should demonstrate a responsible behaviour while dealing with others. We should be honest in our dealings, should be compassionate towards others.
Example situation 1:
Child : Daddy why are you going to throw that cover in the dustbin .You can throw it here, on the side of the road.
Father: Dear child, we should never litter on roads.
Example Situation 2:
Child: Why did you return money to the hawker?
Father: Dear child, hawker by mistake returned me extra money. I returned him back the extra money he had paid.
• Children should be taught to deal with other people with respect. They should not discriminate others on the basis of caste, creed or class.
• While attending some class or an activity in a group, if your children are better than others or able to finish the work earlier, they should be taught not to create disturbance or distract others. Children should be taught to act responsibly when attending some class or group activity.
• Children should be taught self control when dealing with others. Self control means showing responsible behaviour towards others.
• Children should be taught to be honest and not mislead others by telling lies or manipulating the truth. This is very important for creating an environment based on trust.