They Are Watching Us

"The apple never falls far from the tree" We often hear this being said but it is in fact true. Are children prone to frequently imitate their family's characteristics or is it simply a coincidence?
 
The below image shows a child doing exactly what she saw the older women doing around her. Much of our society today illustrates the importance of winning, and often young children are exposed to this belief and imitate the message by berating their competitors, whether it’s in work, sports, and even school. 
 
Many of today’s television programs, movies, and video games seem to promote violent and ill mannered behavior. As adults, people should be providing their children with positive messages instead of negative ones.
 

Question: Do you believe that children imitate negative behavior from adults around them, if so do you think this will affect their behavior in the future?

15 comments:

Rosalie Luciano said...

i feel that children do immitate what they see. if you say something, they will repeat it if they can, if you move a certain way they will try to mimick it. it is just how children learn to do everyday tasks and motions. for example, my nephew, he just turned two. he tries to do everything like everyone else in the room. when music is on and people are dancing he tries to dance too. children learn by watching others.

TaylorAnne said...

Of course children learn from parents, relatives, friends, and the media around them. They look up to the people they can trust like their parents to teach them how to react in certain situations like losing a game or competition in school as stated in the article.

kadian Thompson said...

Children definitely learn from there parents. if you say or do anything they will feel think its okay for them to do the same. if a parent swears very often a child that hears it a lot and sees the emotion of the parent will that swear word is being said, that child is going to think its okay to use such words as expression to their emotion.

Tyler Barrett said...

Almost all children learn from their parents. Their parents beliefs end up molding them as a human being when they're older. This is because children look up to their parents for advice and such when they're young because the do not know how to act otherwise.

adinino said...

I believe that children often do imitate what they see, especially when they are seeing it done by people who are close to them. This is because little kids pften want to be just like their parents, older siblings, babysitters, grandparents, etc. Also, if a child is always around someone, what they see or hear becomes proned to their everyday life which they learn to do.

Emily Januszczyk said...

Though children can learn from a variety of people, their parents are usually the most influential. They're their first role models and examples, so everything they do sets the tone for how their children will act in the future. Children definitely imitate the actions of parents.

Tina said...

Children do imitate what they see, especially by their parents. Children look up to their parents and look to them for guidance on how to act. If a child sees their parent do something, then they assume that the action done is appropriate for them to do as well because if it was something they shouldn't do then the person they look up to wouldn't be doing it. A child's parents are their role models and children are very impressionable so a child will use them as an example of what is acceptable. Children learn by what they see and hear.

Anonymous said...

Children not only imitate negative behavior from adults, but almost anyone, it can be an older brother or sister. They look up to these people and see what they do and think that it is right just because someone else is also doing it. This can affect their future seeing as if they grow up thinking that the actions they have seen are ok for them to do. Other children grow up knowing that what some people do is also bad and they shouldn't do it like drinking. If a child grows up with parents that often drink and they see how it hurts the family and doesnt benefit them, then they are least likely to do it.
-Ivona Golowiejko

Shai Hayes said...

I strongly believe that many actions by children are influenced by their parents actions, because they are around their parents a majority of the time. However, children do not only imitate their parents behavior they can imitate anyone else around them, because as a child their behavior can easily be influenced.

RubenS said...

Children learn a lot from adults around them. They learn speech and whats right and wrong. A perfect example is my niece. She yells a lot because she sees her mother do it a lot. This is showing my niece that yelling is normal. However, in the long run i believe it is up to the child to act they want. They will have enough information about the world and be able to make decisions on their own.

Anonymous said...

I feel that children do immiate what they see or hear most of the time just for the simple fact that, they think what older people are doing is always right. Children learn alot from their surroundings, there young and really dont know much better that is why they are learning. Children are easily influenced by other people just for the simple fact that they dont know much better.

Danielle Gopie

Mike Nahmias said...

I believe that children imitate negative behavior from adults around them. They always pick up things like negative sayings and swears. Picking up these kinds of behaviors will affect their behavior in the future because they'll think it's acceptable behavior and make it a habit.

Rachael Thatcher said...

Children definitely pick up all behaviors from adults around them, whether they be positive or negative. This is because that is all they see and therefore they don't know any better. Also, they normally look up to the adults around them and want to be like them

Hillary Scoville said...

I believe that children imitate negative behavior from adults around them like their parents because thats all they know, especially if the parents fight a lot in front of the kids. I think this will affect their behavior in the future because the way they are when they are little and growing up definitely plays a big part in the child life. Starting off young with the child will influence the way they grow up, unless they really try and shape their ways on their own.

lscerrato said...

Yes i believe children do imitate negative behavior from what they see from their parents. If their parents always do things bad the child will pick up on it and continue to do it. Then that child will be raised known to do these things and think there fine and do it as they get older which will affect their own life.