Teach your kids the following 19 things and they are sure to lead a richer, happier and healthier life.
1. Responsibility & Accountability
Teaching responsibility sounds simple, but it’s not the act of being responsible that were talking about here. What we’re talking about is taking 100% accountability for your life.
It’s the realization that there are no external factors at play. It’s not the government or the economy or your education or your connections or anything else that makes you a success or a failure. It is YOU.
When you take 100% responsibility for your life and your actions, you become powerful beyond measure. Put simply, you can create any life that you want.
2. Forgiveness
Holding a grudge and keeping resentment inside for extended periods of time will suck the life and happiness right out of you. Forgiveness releases you from your past and helps you to move forward. Learning to forgive is essential to living a happy and joy filled life.
3. Delayed Gratification
In the world we live in today instant gratification is a serious problem. It contributes to our lack of work ethic, our fondness for impulse buying, the current porn epidemic and our willingness to sit on the couch while our bodies are wasting away.
The power of delayed gratification is an essential element of being able to reach your ultimate goal. Whether it be saving now to spend later, choosing healthy to get energy later, or putting up with being work at home mom to help boost your career later.
4. Free Thinking
This is one of the most important skills a child can learn in today’s propaganda filled world. Whether it’s deciphering the nonsense on the news or being able to see through some crazy religious, political or government agendas, thinking for yourself, avoiding peer pressure and being a free thinker is needed more than ever.
The world needs more leaders and fewer followers!
5. First Aid/CPR
Basic first aid and CPR is a skill that not many people think about until it’s too late. The ability to save someone while choking, perform proper CPR or to apply pressure to a deep wound can literally save lives. And you never know the life they save one day may be yours!
6. Positive Thinking
As Earl Nightingale said many years ago the strangest secret in the world is that; “We become what we think about.”
If you focus on the negative things, your life will be full of negativity. If you focus your energy on words like “can’t” and “impossible” then you won’t accomplish what you’re trying to accomplish.
However, if you focus on your goal and consistently think about how you know you are going to achieve it, it is impossible to fail. The simple act of thinking positive about your life will lead to success.
7. Gardening
Gardening fosters the values of patience and hard work and it is also a very therapeutic and stress relieving activity. It will get your child off of the couch, away from the computer and outside so that they can enjoy all that nature has to offer.
It is a great family bonding exercise and one that can be done for their entire lives.
8. Human Relations
Dealing with people face to face is becoming a lost art in the world of text messages and social media. Kids are interacting through technology and losing basic human relation skills.
It’s very important to be sure your children are involved in team building activities such as group sports, social clubs or other events where their primary interaction with others is face to face.
9. Sales
Let’s face it. Our entire life is about sales. We are selling everyday in everything we do. Whether we are going on a date, looking for a job or trying to get better service at a restaurant, the act of selling is present at all times.
Learning the basics of selling and understanding your demographics (the people you are interacting with) can have a profound impact on one’s life. It’s amazing what a smile or a well timed compliment can do for you.
10. Bullshit 101
Identifying bullshit in the world of over sensitized headlines, sales pitches and pickup lines has never been more important than it is today. In the past we called these “street smarts”, but the problem is that kids are so over protected these days that they don’t get to learn these valuable skills.
As the famous line goes; “if you don’t stand for something, you will fall for anything”. So, teach your kids to see through the sales pitches and stay strong to their values.