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Word Count: 759 A Year’s Worth of Character Training to Last a Lifetime
Ever wonder why some kids are the way they are? Ever wonder why some kids
seem to lack the basics in true inner character? Well, just exactly how did we
think children would ever get character – without being taught character. Long
gone are the days when whole communities worship weekly. Long gone are the days
when everyone in our small societal circles subscribe to the same exacting
morals and principles to guide life and living.
I remember when my son was young we made a move to a new state. We left
behind a community within a community. We left behind a large group of people
(friends and neighbors) that subscribed to similar ethics and standards of
behavior. Everyone we knew, predominantly, up-held the same guiding principles
that our family lived by. Then that ever fateful day. It was during the first
week at his new preschool & playing with his new neighborhood friends in our new
state. My son walked in the house and I made a simple statement “because that is
how we do it.” To which my son replied “well, Mike’s family doesn’t do it that
way and they don’t even care about that stuff.” UGH ! We had come to another
milestone in parenting: awareness of diversity within family styles and values.
The reality is that kids DO learn through osmosis; meaning, they will
assimilate and become what they see around them. However, what is it that they
see around them? Aside from home-schooled children (or those that attend private
academies) children today are away from their families up to 12 hours a day in
some cases including before and after school care. Being gone either 8 hours or
12 hours a day leaves precious little time for a family to model all the
appropriate qualities they wish to instill within their children. Not to
mention, these hours are relegated to EARLY morning hours (barely awake time)
and late evening before bed hours (barely coherent time again).
Over a lifetime our children will spend the majority of their time away from
us. They will be witnesses to their friends, their friend’s families, movies,
worship communities, television shows, video Xbox And Xbox 360 Games You Want">games, scouting troops, music,
sports teams, camps & conferences, etc. There will be an excess of information
coming into your child’s awareness and all of it leading to who your child
becomes.
There are many many places your child will observe character, some of it good
and some of it not good. Besides what type of character-- which attributes will
your child randomly be exposed to? And will your child be able to identify them,
understand them, and discern how to incorporate them in such a way to be a
wonderful adult?
Here is a list of 52 qualities of internal character. You can take one item a
week to fill up a year’s worth of character training within your own home. You
can design the curriculum, buy the curriculum, or hire someone to work with your
family to tailor content that reflects the lessons you’d like your child to
learn along the way in life. As I said before, long gone are the days when
parents can just trust that throughout the day their child is taking in the
right information to become a responsible, highly functional, & happy member of
society. Take the list. Tweak it to fit your lifestyle and preferences. Have fun
with it. And enjoy knowing you are not leaving your child’s character up to
chance.
- Accountability
- Caring
- Character
- Charity
- Compassion
- Credibility
- Desire
- Determination
- Diversity Awareness
- Diversity Respect
- Duty / Responsibility
- Empathy
- Excellence
- Fairness
- Flexibility
- Following directions
- Friendliness
- Frugal
- Fun
- Generosity
- Gentleness
- Giving
- Global awareness
- Happiness
- Helpfulness
- Honesty
- Honor
- Hope
- Humility
- Imagination
- Integrity
- Judgment / reason
- Knowledge / education
- Logic
- Loyalty
- Obedience
- Openness / privacy
- Patience
- Peace
- Perseverance
- Politeness
- Respect
- Self-control
- Sharing
- Sportsmanship
- Strength (internal)
- Team player
- Tenderness
- Tolerance
- Trust
- Trust-worthiness
- Uniqueness
Until next time--- all the best,
Kate
About The Author
Kate Hufstetler is a well established personal life coach and spiritual
facilitator who has helped many individuals like yourself. Her clients come from
both the United States and overseas. She offers coaching services via email and
phone consultations Her specialty is to cut through delusions that keep people
living a mediocre unsatisfying life, to get them to engage reality, initiate
changes in order to propel them to the life they truly desire.
http://www.comedreamwithme.com
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