Successful education for children starts with the cultivation of good habits.
-Ba Jin
If children have only talent but lack good habits, they may miss key opportunities and cannot become winners on the road to success.
From children completing jigsaw puzzles independently to arranging their own homework time, the cultivation of good habits is everywhere.
Although success is not the ultimate goal of life, success in the secular sense is also a choice to achieve a happy life. It is really important to cultivate good habits in order to make children stand out from their peers.
Dr. Stephen Covey was once called [one of the 25 most influential Americans] by Time magazine in the United States. His book “Seven Habits of Highly Effective People” has influenced tens of millions of readers. He also specially published two books, “Seven Habits of High-Performance Teenagers” and “Seven Habits of Happy Children”, to guide parents to raise their children. According to these two books, the American education circle has also summed up the “Seven Habits Trees” for children’s growth.
After I practiced [seven habit trees] on my son, I benefited a lot. Now I share it with all my parents.
Habit is a proactive-I am responsible for my life.
I am a responsible person. I take initiative. I choose my actions, attitudes and moods. I do not blame others for my wrong actions. I do the right thing without being asked, even when no one is looking.
I am responsible for myself. I am active in doing things. I choose my behavior, attitude and mood. I will not blame others for my wrong behavior. I insist on doing the right thing, even if no one is watching.
In-depth interpretation: The first habit that children need to form is to be active, that is, to consciously lead, to take the initiative, to participate in planning, and to appear as leader.
Case Direct Hit:
Children often play the roles of [king], [soldier] and so on in the game, who will coordinate and arrange, who will be the referee, all need to lead. In order to train my son’s initiative, I encourage my son to try to play the role of task distributor more often. Over time, my son is willing to strive to be leader in more things.
At the Little Dreamer event, The son continued the habit of playing games at ordinary times, He quickly became the group leader in a group of six people. When playing sand games, several other children followed his arrangement and were responsible for piling up, pouring water, modeling and other work. The son’s group was completed by the top few, largely thanks to the logical leadership of the group leader.
My son’s performance exceeded my expectation, and his good habit of being active made it easier for him to stand out among children of the same age.
Habit 2 begins with the end-everything is planned.
I plan ahead and set goals. I do things that have means and make a difference. I am an important part of my class and contribution to my school’s mission and vision. I look ways to be a good citizen.
I will make plans and goals before doing things. I will do meaningful things and bring about positive changes. I am an important part of the class. I will give my strength to the mission and beauty of the school. I hope to be a good citizen.
In-depth interpretation: In life, children should always be reminded of their forward-looking eyes. They should have a beginning and an end. They should not act willfully for a while and end up with failure and irresponsibility.
Case Direct Hit:
The kindergarten once sent out a small task to let the children go home and learn about small animals. My son is especially interested in hatching chickens. I took him to visit the laboratory simulating hatching. After watching it, he asked me if I could create the temperature to hatch a chicken myself.
I patiently told him that in addition to simulated hatching, he also needs careful care and feeding after the chicken comes out of the shell. If you want to raise a chicken, you need to have your own plans and goals.
After hearing this, the son was very embarrassed to say that he felt that he could not have a good chicken yet. Let’s wait until he grew up.
Parents should teach their children bit by bit that what is called “beginning and ending”. If they form this good habit, they will also develop a good sense of responsibility and kill two birds with one stone.
Habit three important things first-first work, then entertainment
I spend my time on things that are most important. This means I say no to things I know I should not do. I set priorities, make a schedule, and follow my plan. I am involved and organized.
I spend my time on the most important things. This means that I will refuse to do what I know I shouldn’t do. I will set priorities for different things, make my schedule and follow the plan. I am a disciplined and organized person.
In-depth interpretation: Several things will need to be completed in the same period of time, which can effectively prioritize and make the most reasonable and feasible plan for oneself.
Case Direct Hit:
I have seen an experiment on how to effectively master the concept of “event and time” in a short period of time. The subject of the experiment was a lazy seven-year-old girl. The researcher divided her activity list through her trivial life and was supervised by her mother.
The things she has to do include three meals a day, games, TV, study and going out for a walk. After returning home from school, she has two and a half hours at her own discretion. She can choose to go out to play games, practice piano at home, watch TV, etc. Each option lasts for half an hour to 45 minutes. She can freely combine according to her own needs.
After more than a month, the children of the subjects have been able to arrange their after-school life perfectly and independently.
For children, they do not have concepts such as “must do”, “very important” and “not so important” in their minds. Parents need appropriate guidance and training through daily life.
Habit to Four Win-Win Thinking-Benefiting People and Self-Benefiting
I balance course for getting what I want with consideration for what others want. I make deposits in others’ Emotional Bank Accounts. When conflicts arise, I look for third alternatives.
I will have the courage to fight for what I want, but at the same time I will also consider what others want. I will consider the feelings of others when doing things. When conflicts arise, I will choose a win-win choice.
Deep Interpretation: Win-win mode is an excellent way to cultivate children’s deep thinking mode and improve their thinking ability. Ordinary children can only adopt one-way thinking when looking at problems, while win-win thinking can make behavior processing more active.
Case Direct Hit:
A reception of foreign Meng Wa visiting group, A group of American children are full of curiosity about everything in China. One of their activities is to visit Chinese schools. Then I completed several interactive tasks. I found that after the children of the visiting group received the tasks, Although the language is not clear, However, some senior English-speaking students are already looking for help. [make friends], [share the award]. Their [negotiation terms] are always mutually beneficial and acceptable to Chinese students. This surprises me, because our children seldom can say such sentences as [you can also get what benefits], but they are always self-centered.
Win-win thinking is very rare, which is also what our children should be vigorously cultivated.
Habit five empathy-first understand others, then let yourself be understood
I listen to other people’s ideas and feelings. I try to see things from their viewpoints. I listen to others without interrupting. I am confident in voicing my ideas. I look people in the eyes when talking.
I will listen to other people’s thoughts and feelings. I try to understand things from other people’s perspective. I never interrupt when listening to others. I can also express my opinion with confidence. I will look into other people’s eyes when talking to others.
In-depth Interpretation: Being good at learning, understanding and digging out the source and depth of events is of great benefit to the improvement of children’s personal ability. Children must first understand others, think from the perspective of others, respect others, and then consider being understood by others. This “others first, oneself second” thinking mode is quite effective for helping children succeed.
Case Direct Hit:
In order to improve his son’s thinking level, Shaping his respect pattern from [understanding others] to [being understood], I took my son to a short course of [little host]. Not to make my son a [very glib] little host, But with the help of the host class course to train his listening and understanding ability. Especially in the interview training, it is necessary to continuously understand the interviewee’s conversation content and continuously carefully understand the effective information in it, so as to carry on the interview.
The one-month course is very short, but the son has made remarkable progress in communicating with others. Especially when dealing with parents in language, he will no longer cry first as before, but will focus on listening to parents’ requests and saying what he thinks.
Habit 6 Collaboration-Collaboration Gain
I value other people’s strategies and learn from them. I get along well with others, even people who are different than me. I work well in groups. I seek out other people’s ideas to solve problems because I know that by teaming with others we can create better solutions than anyone of us can alone. I am humble.
I value the strengths of others and learn from them. I get along well with others, even if they are different from me. I am good at teamwork. I recognize other people’s solutions because I know that the solutions obtained through group cooperation are better than those created by any individual. I am a humble person.
In-depth interpretation: Children’s self-awareness is too strong, which is a huge obstacle to forming good habits. Children should be trained to understand individual differences and cooperate with others so as to be more integrated into the team.
Case Direct Hit:
The son is naturally introverted, I would rather play with toys by myself, Nor is it willing to take the initiative to participate in collective activities. Therefore, I invited my friend’s children to our house to play, and bought a lot of jigsaw puzzles and building blocks for my son, which need several people to finish. When my son pouted at his beloved toy, I suggested that he invite other children to play together. So repeatedly, he was willing to finish the group activities with the children in the same group in the kindergarten.
Get used to seven balanced lives-[sharpening knives without missing firewood cutters]
I take care of my body eating right, exercising and getting sleep. I spend time with family and friends. I learn in lots of ways and lots of places, not just at school. I find meant ways to help others.
I take good care of my body, I eat healthily, exercise actively, and go to bed early and get up early. I am willing to spend time with my family and friends. I learn from many places and in various ways, not just at school. I think it is meaningful to help others.
In-depth interpretation: [sharpening knives does not miss woodcutters], parents should not be eager for quick success and instant benefits, only let children focus on learning. Children’s growth should pursue balance.
Case Direct Hit:
Some parents plan their children’s future from the moment they are born, From early childhood education institutions to interest classes, Arrange the children’s study to a full capacity, They mistakenly believe that only by placing children in [specific] learning environments, Is the real education. In fact, For children, they should look for wisdom from life. Many foreign children are sent to summer camps as soon as they arrive at holidays. The themes of summer camps are mostly adventure activities and hands-on projects, which seem to have nothing to do with knowledge-based teaching, but greatly expand children’s thinking and promote their all-round and multi-angle development.
Russian educator Ushinski said: [Good habits are the moral capital stored in the nervous system. This capital keeps increasing in value, and people enjoy its interest throughout their whole life.] Therefore, in order for children to have a better life, from now on, cultivate these seven good habits for children!