The child s tasks are to take risks, fail, and learn lessons. Imagine, for instance, that your heartbroken child has temporarily lost a much-loved toy to time out because he or she misused it. If Time Allows 4. Children need to learn to need, trust, depend, and have empathy for others. When your child falls down and skins her knee, your comfort helps her to experience and learn the value of reaching out.
Responsibility is the second important aspect of character.
Your child is born thinking her life is your problem. But part of growing character is helping her to take ownership over her life and to see her life as her problem. Reality is the ability to accept the negatives of the real world. You need to help her deal with sin, loss, failure, and evil, not only in herself, but in others and in the world. Competence is key to character.