What it Means to Raise a Child with Character
Every parent wants to raise a child who has character. But what does this mean?
Character is generally defined as the mental, moral, and ethical qualities that define an individual. When it comes to raising a child with character, ideally that child would grow into an adult who has the following 10 traits:
- Honest
- Courageous
- Generous
- Respectful
- Compassionate
- Fair
- Polite
- Reliable
- Grateful
- Loyal
Many parents lean on extracurricular activities such as youth sports as the means to teach their child the lessons that build these character traits. However, as I say time and time again, youth sports and extracurricular activities like it don’t build character. Youth sports reveals character, parents and coaches build character.
Translating this into action comes down to helping a child develop a belief system. Children aren’t born honest, they learn to believe that honesty is the best policy. Children aren’t born loyal, they learn to believe that loyalty is how you build meaningful relationships.
Before a child can even begin to adopt these beliefs, they must first have experiences to learn from, and high character adults to teach them. This means that to raise a child with character is to raise a child who experiences the world as a classroom.