Raising Kids of Character
Posted by admin in Character Education on July 23, 2011
We all want to help our kids become caring, courageous, positive and principled people. But in today’s hectic, information-overdosed world there seem to be a thousand influences on them that we are not always happy about. And when they don’t act like the kind of people we hoped they would be, we often feel out of control, out of ideas and worried about how to turn things around.
As a parent educator and therapist, I often hear parents wishing that their children would: take greater initiative at home and school, be more able to put themselves in others’ shoes, take more responsibility for their actions, value togetherness as a family, consistently treat peers, adults and themselves with respect, be more honest even when the truth is difficult to share, courageously face fears, persist through challenges and be less influenced by negative peer pressure and more able to stand up for what they believe in. This can be summed up as demonstrating character.
The questions below are offered as food for thought. Your answers will provide you with clues as to whether or not you have embraced opportunities to model each trait for or with your children. You have the power and influence to bring about changes in your children and to help them develop character. I have focussed on ten key character traits, listed in random order. Read the rest of this entry »
Try Building Character In Children
Posted by admin in Character Education on July 23, 2011
In an effort to teach children how to be responsible, respectful, and honest throughout their lives, schools throughout the United States have implemented structured character education classes. For the most part, parents are extremely supportive of these types of programs because they want their children to learn how to respect others, how to have integrity, and how to exhibit self-control.
Building character is also the responsibility of parents, however, so it is not something that can just be left up to school systems to take care of. Teaching and helping your children to build solid characters is one of the most difficult and time consuming parts of parenting, but there are some general tips you can follow that will help you to put your children on the right path from an early age.
1. Parenting should always come first – this may be one of the most basic, yet challenging things for busy parents to do. There are so many demands on our time that it is often an easy thing to pass on spending quality time with your kids. Good parents make time to spend with their kids on a regular, consistent basis, and it goes a long way towards developing strong, positive character traits in children.
2. Set a good example – it is very important for parents to be exceptional role models for their children. Like it or not, your kids look to you as an example of how adults should behave, so you will be the biggest influence in shaping your children’s character traits.
3. Pay attention to what your children see and hear – kids tend to absorb pretty much everything they are exposed to (good and bad). Carefully monitor what your kids watch on television, what they do online, the songs they listen to, and the books that they read. All of these have a tremendous influence on developing children’s characters. Read the rest of this entry »