Recognizing the Parent Role in Character Education
Tags: Schools, Parenting Tips, Education, Parenting Advice, Parenting

When we were kids, it seemed that everyone was deeply proud of India’s schools and the values of the students within them. You don’t hear much of that these days. When it comes to our kids, it seems we have devolved to a point where we care more about what they can do than about who they are…and they know it. That represents a depressing turn for all of us.

“Re Organize Our Priorities”

So, what do we do? We can begin by reorganizing our priorities as follows: attitude over aptitude, effort over ability, and character over talent. Rather than merely adopting these priorities, let’s honor and live them from Play school age to the decisions made by college admissions departments. We must say it and mean it. After all, a lifetime of teaching has taught us to never kid a kid. Never tell them something’s important when it’s really not.

“Parents are students’ primary teachers and Home is the primary classroom”

We submit the idea that parental growth is the key to character development in the family. Our children don’t need us to be perfect; they need to see our effort and willingness to dig in and focus on our own progress. If parents reach for deeper values, character, and purpose, so will their children.

When schools talk about parent involvement, they typically mean that they would like parents to support the work of the teachers. Booksol offer parenting workshops at schools featuring tips or techniques designed to influence habits and behaviors., workshops that challenge parents to become inspirational examples for their children.

And Here’s what we impart sub consciously into every parent’s mind

• Character is inspired rather than imparted. (We don’t pour it in, we draw it out.)

• You must influence the influencers. (And family is the biggest influencer.)

Both conclusions add up to the fact that parents have to be on board with the program. Beyond lending moral support, they need to model the notion of character education as a lifelong pursuit. One simple way to do this is to make sure that while goals are being set for their children — course selection, extracurricular choices, and so on — parents are also setting personal goals for themselves, such as exercise, community service, and cultural enrichment. And just as kids get report cards at regular intervals, parents require times when they can share progress (and, yes, sometimes a lack thereof) with their kids and their peers.

“Parents need help in letting go”

In facilitating this process, we have observed that children tend to be so inspired by their parents’ willingness to place themselves in the vulnerable position demanded by any process of personal growth that they don’t even care all that much about their parents’ progress.

In recent years, we have also observed that parents tend to be increasingly focused on having a “relationship” with their children, some to the point of obsession. We also have difficulty allowing our kids to fail. In short, parents need help in letting go. Sometimes the best way to let go is to become so preoccupied with your own progress that you have less time to think about your child’s. In time, you will become a role model who inspires your child to go after his or her best.

At Booksol, our mission sounds simple enough: We seek to provide a learning environment where individuals develop character and discover a deeper purpose in their lives. It also sounds like something that might be found in any school mission statement. The trick lies in preventing this mission from becoming just an add-on. It must guide everything we do. It requires buy-in from everyone: students, faculty, staff, and oh, yes…Parents.