Family is an institution in which most children learn about character and morality. The schools and other institutions help in the process of character development, but they have much less independent force of their own. Their main function is to reinforce what has already been taught in the homes. If morality and character are not taught in the home, other institutions cannot be relied on to undo the damage. This is the reason that the quality of family iife is so important. More and more children are growing up with weak attacnments, little empathy and a weakened respect for law and order or civility. More than from anyone else, children learn values from their parents and they learn best by copying their parent's action. Successful childrearing requires the active and continuing physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual presence of the parents in the lives of their children. Those parents who spend most of their time in child rearing, other things equal, will have the best child outcomes.
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