In today’s modern world, it’s hard to raise your children properly and ensure they stay on the right track. There are so many wrong role models and the internet is filled with things your kids shouldn’t see. Parents are struggling to turn their children into good people, and the challenges just keep on coming. What’s even harder is to raise your son to be a true gentleman.

If you want to invest the energy and time into teaching your son to be a gentleman, but don’t know how we’ve got you covered. The 8 essential tips below will help you do it without any trouble.

Let’s break it down together.

1. Good Manners

Start with the simple things and build on from there.

A gentleman needs to have good manners and to know how to behave properly around other people.

For young boys, it’s not hard to learn to:

• introduce themselves when meeting someone new
• shake their hands
• say “thank you” and “please”
• ask for things politely
• act properly at the dining table

Make sure you’re a role model and you practice what you preach. Actively remind your kids to show good manners and show them how it’s done.

2. Helping Others

Young boys need to learn how to recognize those who need help from the earliest stages of their lives.

Again, it’s in the small things such as:

• holding the door to someone
• helping someone carry their bags
• offering their seat on the bus
• offering a hand with a minor problem

Teach your boys to help out elderly people, women with babies, young girls and anyone else who might need a hand.

Gentlemen are always there for other people, whether they know them personally or not.

Keep in mind that you need to teach them both theoretically and practically, so be a gentleman yourself.

3. Protecting Girls

Boys and girls need to function together, as equals. However, boys need to be prepared to step up when things get hard or handle or the situation gets out of hand.

Teaching young boys to protect girls is immensely important for their development and becoming a gentleman.

Therefore, teach them to take care of their sisters or female friends by:

• being there for them
• holding their hand when they’re scared
• protecting them from others
• standing up for them

Boys will learn how to act like true protectors and will carry this inside them for the rest of their lives.

4. Respecting Others

Respect is another majorly important characteristics that gentlemen need to nurture. Showing respect for others, especially elderly people is a must and you need to teach your son how to express it.

Teach your children how to speak to others and how to listen to them, without being disrespectful:

• be silent when others are speaking
• don’t interrupt
• acknowledge what they’re saying 
• if you disagree, express your opinion in a polite manner
• don’t underrate anyone

Showing respect regardless of the situation you’re in is what gentlemen do so make sure your kids adopt this habit as soon as possible.

5. Education

Education is always important and should be a top priority for any parent raising their kids to be strong, independent people.

Try emphasizing the importance of education in terms of:

• learning about the world
• exploring different ideas
• opening many doors of opportunities to yourself
• meeting people and acquiring knowledge form them

Your son should understand the importance of reading books, developing interests in certain topics, and widening their horizons.

This will give them additional material for becoming a gentleman.

6. Generosity & Gratitude

When you think about a gentleman, you can’t imagine a person who’s not generous.

Generosity is the mirror of how we treat other people and how far we’re ready to go for others.

Tell your kids about the importance of:

• caring for others
• sharing with others
• focusing on other people 
• putting others before yourself

In addition, teach them how to be grateful for what they have.

 Make sure they’re ready to give up on something to help another person, to invest their own resources such as time and energy to make others happy and to always be satisfied with what they’ve been given.

7. Honesty

Gentlemen need to have healthy, strong relationships with all their loved ones. Their friends, partners or family members should be their top priority.

To build healthy relationships, there needs to be a lot of the key ingredient which is honesty.

Teach your child that honesty is about:

• talking about your emotions openly
• not talking behind anyone’s back
• completely avoiding lying

It’s essential that your kids embrace honesty as the best way to act towards others and the best way to never regret anything.

8. Limit Negative Influences

Even though you, as a parent, are giving it your best to raise your child to be a gentleman, there are still other places where your child can pick up the bad behavior.

There are always going to be negative influences and you’ll never be able to remove them completely. Still, you can try limiting them to the minimum by openly talking to your child about:

• using social media
• watching specific YouTube videos
• watching specific TV shows

Remember, if you simply forbid something without explanation, your child will be angry. In addition, they’ll keep on doing it without you knowing.

Instead, try a different approach.

Break those negative things down and openly talk about them. Ask your child for their opinion and try reaching some common grounds.

If your child sees you respect their opinion, they might make the decision to remove those negative influences themselves.

Final Thoughts 

Children are like little living sponges. They look at us and they pick up on everything that we do. This is why, to raise a gentleman, you need to be a gentleman if you’re a dad, or show love for gentlemen if you’re a mom. 

Use the tips above to turn your son into the man he deserves to be. 

Author’s bio. Daniela McVicker is a psychologist and family counselor. She is also a freelance writer and a contributor to TopWritersReview. Her passion is writing about leading a healthy family life and helping people enjoy their lives to the fullest.