This can be amusing, as the director of Self Leadership International Andrew Bryant found out when his three-and-a-half-year-old Tasha first started painting her nails after watching his wife. Or take the case of younger brother Nathan picking up Andrew's tennis racket, and saying, "like daddy."
These above are examples of children taking their cue from modelling in a family.
Danger of negative role modelling
The other dark side to this role modelling is when children mimic the aggressive behaviour of adults.
Noted psychologist Dr Albert Bandura and his colleague Richard Walters determined that although parents may not tolerate aggression in the home, if they demanded that their child to be tough and settle disputes with peers physically if necessary, their child would model the aggressive hostile attitudes of their parents.
There's evidence for this behaviour in war-torn areas of the world where children carry weapons.
Further reading
Dr Bandura's findings became the subject for two books. Check them out at your nearest library: Adolescent Aggression (1959), Aggression: A Social Learning Analysis (1973).
Walk the talk
This is why parents need to model behaviour that they wish their child to exhibit both at home and out of home.
Leadership trainer Andrew Bryant says: "This is why the leaders of any team or organisation must "walk the talk", they must be the model for the behaviours they wish to see duplicated. Talk is cheap - action is real."
Key reference: Self Leadership International
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