4 Character Qualities You Need to Instill in Your Children

While you're monitoring the progress of your NCAA March Madness bracket, make sure you're following March Dadness, our game plan for Coach Dad.  We started with Sweet 16 Words of Affirmation, advanced to Elite 8 Activities Your Kids Should Experience with You, and are moving on to the Final 4 Character Qualities You Need to Instill in Your Children.

Roland Warren, NFI's president, likes to say "If you give your children money and no values, you give them everything they need to fail; if you give them values and no money, you give them everything they need to succeed."  While there are a lot of values that are important for dads to instill in their children, we came up with a helpful acronym to convey four key character traits. 

In the spirit of Roland's saying, help your kids become R-I-C-H in life by modeling, teaching, and valuing these four chacater qualities...

4 Character Traits You Should Model & Teach Your Kids:

• R - Responsibiility:  Take ownership for your actions.  When you make mistakes, apologize and fix it.  Work hard at the things you take on and do your best.  Think through the consequences of your actions and make wise decisions.
  
  
• I - Integrity:  Always do what is right and tell the truth, even if it costs you personally.  Know what your values are and stand by them.  Be reliable and trustworthy.
  
  
• C - Compassion:  Always treat others with respect, even if you disagree with them or don't really like them.  Listen and seek to understand others.  Be willing to sacrifice to help someone else.
  
  
• H - Humility:  Give credit to others when it's due.  Show appreciation for praise and compliments, but don't gloat or boast.  Be willing to inconvenience yourself to serve others.  Consider the needs of others ahead of your own.

Dads, talk about what these character qualities look like in real life to help your children understand why these traits are important.  Praise your children when they demonstrate these qualities and, when they mess up, gently talk with them about how their actions violated these character traits and what they can do differently next time.  Most importantly, model these character qualities consistently.  Your children will learn more from your example than from what you say.

With these character traits, your children will be well-equipped to be truly R-I-C-H in life.