We all want our children to be successful, and I searched for great ways to help our children be just that. We cannot do everything for them, but we can help them get on the right track. By helping them from a young age, our kids will get to have a good life that they can create.
So, let’s dive in and see how we can help them!
What Can We Do to Help Children to Be Successful?
One of the most important things I have learned as a mom is to support what my children are already interested in doing. They get this light in their eyes when they do something well, and when they are praised they’re even more proud.
Praising what they have done can make them get intimidated, however, praising the work that they put into what they have done as well can help them realize that hard work is rewarded regardless of the end product.
According to Entrepreneur, praising children for their hard work rather than saying they’re talented or smart, encourages a growth mindset and can help them be more confident if they don’t succeed at first.
Some other things we can do to help our children on the path to being successful are;
- Having conversations with them.
- Communicating with actual conversation is a great way to have your children present in the moment and build on their communication skills.
- Eating dinner together.
- This is a good time to also engage in conversation with your child. Family dinners have studies showing the many benefits of engaging in this including an increase in the intake of vegetables and fruits, a positive impact on children’s values, motivation, and self-esteem.
- Make your child do chores.
- Chores will give children responsibility and encourage good work ethic.
- Read to them.
- According to Laura Phillips PsyD, exposure to words is the most important way to help your child build language pathways. This will also increase their language and cognitive capacity.
- Allow them to fail.
- No one likes to fail, however, the best way to learn how to not do something is by trying it. Only then can you find a way to do it effectively.
- Help them develop good social skills.
- According to Early EdCare, social skills help your kids make positive relationships, develop their communication skills further, helps them develop body language, and help them learn to share. It can improve their mental health as well.
- Encourage them to speak up.
- Experts describe that kids who can self-advocate see benefits like doing well in school, work, and life in general. It fosters independence and helps them be more self-aware.
What Every Kid Needs to Become Successful
There is a psychologist who provided 7 skills that separated kids who were more successful from kids who struggled more. They are,
- Self-Confidence
- Empathy
- Self-Control
- Integrity
- Curiosity
- Perseverance
- Optimism
The thing about this list is that this is something we can all teach our children right at home. These are things that we can help them build upon and understand. Ways you can help build your child’s self-confidence are helping them set realistic goals, encouraging them to express themselves appropriately and teaching them to celebrate even their small successes.
Studies done at Harvard, have helped discern ways to build upon our children’s empathy, including empathizing with them and modeling empathy for others to lead by example, engage in self-care, and make caring for others a high priority in your home.
The George Lucas Educational Foundation says that in order to help your child learn self-control you should establish routines, and alternate times of learning and play to acknowledge that children have limited attention spans, and talk clearly and simply about behaviors that matter.
You can also help your child build integrity. You can teach them your values, and empathy, create teaching moments from daily things,
Children are naturally curious and the best thing you can do to keep that alive is to foster it.
Perseverance can be taught by helping them set short-term goals, praising their effort, helping them identify their strengths, finding the lesson in their failures, and helping them understand cause and effect.
Optimism can be encouraged as well, being optimistic yourself will help, helping them see what they learned from a failure will encourage them to keep trying, and help them focus on the good things that have come from a situation.
How to Give Your Child the Best Life Possible
We cannot control the world, or what happens in it. We can’t even control how our children’s future will turn out. That doesn’t mean that we cannot give them the best tools we can before they grow up.
Raising happy children is one of the best ways to ensure their adult life is better. Here are some science-backed ways to help you raise happy children.
- Get happy yourself.
- That old saying rings true for every family, happy mom, happy dad, happy kid.
- Teach them to build relationships.
- Humans are relational characters, we weren’t meant to be alone forever, and fostering connections is a great way to help your child have a happy life.
- Expect effort, not perfection.
- As stated earlier, praising effort and not achievement helps with a growth mindset, and this gives them more confidence and helps them with problem-solving skills.
- Teach optimism.
- Research shows that when children are taught early on to be optimistic they are half as prone to depression when they go through puberty later.
- Teach emotional intelligence.
- Helping them identify what they are feeling and how to understand what others are feeling will help them be more self-aware.
- Form happiness habits.
- Being habitual is easy once we have established the habit. This will encourage them to continue building on those habits.
- Teach self-discipline.
- Help them learn to distract themselves from temptation. Self-discipline comes in so handy as an adult, and having your child practice early on will only have good results.
- More playtime.
- This helps kids grow and learn, it helps them be present in the moment.
- Rig their environment for happiness.
- A great way to do this is to watch less TV, we are shaped by our environment more than we realize. Giving them a happier environment is a proven way to help them live a better life.
- Eat dinner together.
- This is something else that coincides with helping them lead successful lives.
Final Thoughts
Although predicting the future isn’t in the cards, shaping the way our children grow up is. Giving them a voice and helping them with their understanding of the world will help them be strong and successful.
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