Values �
SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1Running head: Personal Values Development
Personal Values Development
Kristen Bunge
University of Phoenix
Personal Values Development
"In the literature, a value is a person's stable, internalized belief about a desired state,
goal, or behavior of how he or she should act, perceive, or judge environmental stimuli" (Hyde & Weathington, 2006 ö 4). Values begin to develop at a young age and continue to evolve until a person's death. My values were influenced by the people around me and circumstances throughout my life. Some of the values I feel strongest about include family, acceptance, open-mindedness, religion, humility, education and independence.
My mother took off to Louisiana with a friend of my fathers when I was 7 years-old. I was left with two younger sisters and a father who had to learn how to raise three little girls. We moved in with my grandparents who provided us with a loving home, but my sisters and I felt as if we only had each other.
I became my sibling's mother figure, they began crawling in bed with me when they were afraid, I helped them get ready for school, did their hair, ensuring that their clothes matched all the things my father knew nothing about. From this experience, family, and maintaining a strong foundation for family to achieve success has been my number one value. My father was great, he did the best he could; I look up to him to this day because he has taught me how to stick together as a family and to never give up. I am now a single mother of an 8 year-old boy who means the world to me; I hope my son always looks up to me knowing I have always done my best to prepare him for...