Children who attribute their triumphs and failures to their own hard work are usually more successful than those who feel that they have no control over the outcomes of their efforts. jumping in to rescue children at the slightest obstacle, without allowing them to work it out on their own can make them feel unskilled. To achieve self-confidence in children, parents and teachers should allow them to take responsibility of their own work, face problems and figure out solutions.
In order to feel empathetic, children need to understand what others are feeling (affective empathy), know how to act with compassion (behavioral empathy) and step into another’s shoe to feel what they are feeling (cognitive empathy). Parents must label emotions properly to give children a proper emotional vocabulary to draw from, question them, to make them understand the emotion they are feeling and teach them how to read simple emotions from peoples’ faces.
There is a strong connection between success and the ability to control one’s desires, actions, thoughts, emotions and attention. It is one of the best ways to teach children to bounce back from failures and thrive. Verbal indications often help children snap back into action, and practicing such indications can allow them to hold longer on their focus. Practicing stress pauses as counting to 10 before reacting can also help children to control their answers better.
Integrity is nothing but a set of learned beliefs and attitudes which creates a moral compass for children, and help them differentiate between right and wrong. It is important that parents lay out their expectations clearly, but it is equally important to allow children the space to create their own morals, even if they are different from their parents. Praising proper behavior goes a long way to motivate children.
Long associated with a higher IQ, curiosity helps children to learn willingly and confidently to explore new, uncertain or challenging events. Build curiosity with open-ended toys and games, and creative material such as paints or Lego.
Perseverance is a feature which helps to keep children motivated, when it seems so much easier to give up. Mistakes can often discourage children but parents can encourage them to recognize their mistakes instead of making failures feel like a disaster. Parents can also show children different techniques such as blocking small amount of time off for bigger tasks, so that children won’t feel overwhelmed or run away from them.
Optimism can help children, temporary to view roadblocks and challenges and not allowing these to pull them down easily. Since children learn best through imitation, it is important for parents to emulate positivity to them and make it a common story at home.
