How to respect yourself

Over the past few days, when we were lucky enough to actually be in school, we have had quite a few sharings on the theme of showing respect to others. We heard tips on how to be respectful, to be mindful of our words and actions, to be respectful to our family members, and to show people your respect through thoughtful gestures and understanding.

In my classrooms, one of my class rules is to respect. What does this look like? When talking to my students about this, respect in the classroom includes simple things, like listening carefully when someone is answering a question or giving a presentation, being aware of your classmates’ thoughts and feelings before you make a comment, not taking things out of your neighbours pencil case without asking, respecting their property and their boundaries, and many other things. To know what other things I am talking about, all you really need to do is to use a bit of common sense and to show a bit of empathy. Put yourself in the shoes of others and think of things from their perspective. And if you are not able to do that, perhaps think about how you would like to be treated yourself. What has other people done for you or said to you that gave you a feeling of being respected?

I know I should be talking about showing respect to others and this is important but at the same time, I firmly believe that before you can consider how you show your respect to others, you need to first respect yourself. Are you mindful of how you talk about yourself and of others? Do you respect your own family members? Do you think about how you present yourself to others? Look at the way you are dressed right now, do you present yourself as someone who respects and cares about themselves? Again, it’s the small things, is your shirt tucked in properly? Did you brush your hair this morning? Did you brush your teeth? Have you cut your nails? If we take it a bit further, do you respect your own education? Did you respect yourself enough to represent yourself in the best possible way in your last test or presentation or competition? Have you thought carefully about what you have posted about yourself on social media?

When you take the time to care about yourself, you give yourself the time and capacity to care about others. And by knowing how to respect yourself, you can also learn how to respect those around you. At the end of the day, respect others but also be able to respect the person that looks back at you in the mirror.

Mr Manchester G
12 September 2023