The Role of Parents in Children's Character Education

Family is the smallest component of society. The Family consists of father, mother, and children; father and mother; father and child; mother and child. In the family, the father and mother are commonly referred to as "parents." We know who we think of as parents, but what do parents really mean? Parents are the first educators for children and determine the success of children in the long-term. 

Every parent wants to have a child with good character. What does "character" mean? Character is the combination of traits and qualities distinguishing the individual nature of a person or thing. To have this good character it needs to be done from an early age. All parents have an important role in building this character in their children. Children as a good imitators will do what they see, so that the parent in this case need to be a good role model to their children. 

To build good character in children, there needs to be good cooperation between parents and their environment. The teacher or the educator have a major role in a child's character building because, in the school environment, children will be created into a high-quality humans after the education they receive from their  families. The role of parents in children's education is to provide basic education, attitudes, and  skills, such as religious education, ethics, courtesy and teaching behavior that is consistent with what is taught in school. 

We can conclude from the parent description that the parent plays a critical role in providing education to children. What parents give to children early in life will be imprinted and carried until the children enter the next phase of life. So that parents play a main role in deciding the children's life. But the parent role is not just only for the mother but needs good cooperation between father and mother. As for the role and the function of the parents to the children education divide into: 

# 1. Mother Role

In general, mothers have the main role in the family. Since the child was born, mother always stays beside them. Mothers give their children all their love, feed them, and always hangout with them. A mother's education for her child is a fundamental  education that should not be overlooked. So, a mother needs to be wise and good at educating their child. Some people say that a mother is a nation's educator. It's so real how Hard  it is to be a good teacher and good household ruler. Whether  for the better or for the worse, a mother's education of her children will influence their development and attitude one day. A mother will always be worried and always fulfill what their children want, even if it's not good enough.

#2. Father Role

Many people believed that fathers  only worked for a living to support theirs families, while mothers led and educate their children and did housework. However, in a family, both fathers and mothers have equally important roles in educating their children. The father's attitude will affect the children's personalities because a father is required to be a leader, a braver, and a protector of the family. It has previously been said that children are good imitators, so when children see the attitude of a brave father, they will imitate this courage. 

Children's character education can be said to be education plus, because this education involves various aspects, namely cognitive (knowledge), affective (feelings), and also action (action). Character education that is carried out systematically and consistently will give birth to a child with smart emotions. Character education has many functions, some of them are: a) Development, this has an impact on the child's potential to become someone who has good behavior, b) Improvement, where this education will be responsible for providing knowledge about whether something is good or bad, c) Filter, this means that education will filter out things that are not in accordance with the prevailing values so that children will digest only good things.

Character education that parents should teach include the following: 

A. Religious Lesson