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3 Character Traits That Help Kids Make Better Choices
Making healthy life choices is hard work, but positive character traits help. Teaching your kids character may be as important as sending them to school to learn to read and write. When certain qualities are engrained, they simplify making good choices as well as sticking with them.
Culture Shock Las Vegas presents three personality traits that your kids need to overcome adversity and make healthy choices that help them accomplish their goals.
Determination
Determination can also be called passion or motivation — it's the force that drives you forward. When your kids have the determination to do well in school, master a hobby, or excel in an activity, it can help them avoid bad choices such as spending too much time on screens, which would keep them from succeeding.
Learning determination starts with positive reinforcement; not just any praise will do. Instead of focusing on the outcome, emphasize the behaviors you want your children to repeat. Praise the hard work your son put into completing a difficult homework assignment or the problem-solving skills your daughter used to finish a project.
However, building determination doesn't have to be a chore. You can look for fun group activities to enroll kids in, such as dance programs at Culture Shock Las Vegas, gymnastics, sports, or music. These activities require determination, and children can learn the behavior as well as the choices that can keep them physically and mentally healthy.
Resilience
When the going gets tough, your children need to adapt to keep going. Resilience is a person's ability to grow and change through adversity rather than let the challenges dictate the outcome. According to the American Psychological Association, kids aren't automatically either resilient or not; it's a way of thinking and acting they can learn.
Resilience gives a sense of control that promotes better choices during times of stress. While some people turn to alcohol, drugs, or other unhealthy behaviors to cope, resilient people, don't need unhealthy coping mechanisms. They often choose healthy activities such as mindfulness, meditation, yoga, and journaling, which reinforce positivity and reduce stress.
Persistence
To choose a healthy goal and see it through to the end, your kids need persistence. The more of this trait your kids have, the more they are likely to choose goals that need more time commitment, such as learning to play a musical instrument or completing a college degree program. To master persistence, they need to know how to fail and keep trying. This can be hard for you, as it's natural to want to help your kids. However, instead of coming to the rescue whenever your child fails, prompt them to identify the issue and work out how to overcome it.
You can also teach persistence effectively through modeling this behavior yourself by choosing a goal of your own and achieving it. For example, if you feel that your job is not fulfilling, you may pursue a business or marketing degree online. Your kids get to see you focus your passion for management, accounting, and marketing on a degree program. As you work to complete your degree, they will realize the healthy choices and the sacrifices you make.
When it comes to a child's education, it's easy to focus exclusively on aptitudes for math or science. However, when you emphasize character as well as academic learning, you give your children the tools to make healthy choices, no matter where their dreams take them.