6 Character Traits That Will Help Your Child Develop Into A Well-Rounded Adult

As a parent, you’ll be greatly engaged with your child’s academic achievements and success. And as valuable as these are, they’re not the be-all and end-all of everything.

Encouraging certain character traits in your child can be just as — if not more — important for their future wellbeing.

Take friendships for example.

We choose friends based on their personalities, not on the grades they achieved at school. We want to be buddies with people who are calm, loving, and kind.

But having a great personality isn’t just about making friends. Nurturing certain character traits can help your child in so many areas of their future life.

So which character traits should you be encouraging in your kid?

6 character traits that will help your child develop into a well-rounded adult

1.   Kindness

In 2020, ‘Be Kind’ is the message we’re sharing with our friends, wearing on our T-shirts, and posting on our social media.

Child character traits don’t get much more important than this one. In fact, in the world right now,  kindness is crucial.

Teaching your kids to show kindness to others means they will treat their classmates and family members with love and respect. It will benefit their social skills and help them to develop meaningful, positive relationships throughout their life.

You can encourage this trait in your child by:

• Teaching them to share their toys with their friends
• Getting them to help you out around the house
• Encouraging them to be kind with their words (e.g. paying a family member a compliment).

You should also help your kid to be kind to themselves. Task your child with writing a list of all the things they love about themselves — you could even make it into a poster and stick it up somewhere at home!

2.   Honesty

If your kid develops honesty from a young age, they’ll find it easy when they’re older to be open with you and come to you with their problems.

Bringing up an honest kid will make your life so much easier. Think of all the time and worry you’ll save, knowing that your kid isn’t hiding things from you (especially when they’re a teen!)

And it’s not just you who benefits. Their honesty won’t go unnoticed by the kids they meet and interact with. Who doesn’t love an honest friend?

Try to focus on developing this character trait in your child before they find themselves in the dilemma of choosing between white lies and honesty. It’ll be less tricky for them later on if they already know the right thing to do.

Encourage your child to develop this character trait by:

• Modeling honesty at home
• Making sure you are always open with your child
• Responding to their questions with truthful answers
• Avoiding hiding things from them wherever possible

It’s also important to reward your child’s honesty. It’s very easy to only notice and react when you catch your child being dishonest. Make a point of praising and rewarding your child when they are honest and open with you — this will make them want to do it all the time!

3.   Determination

Determination is a fantastic character trait to encourage in kids, as it will remain with them throughout their adult lives. Kids that are determined will achieve their dreams, believe in their abilities, and strive to make the world a better place.

You can encourage this character trait in your kid by praising them when they show determination.

Picture the scene: your kid loses their football match and is upset, but they were a brilliant team player throughout the game. Praise them for this — you’re showing them that their hard work and determination are way more important than the final result!

4.   Contentment

Combined with determination, contentment is also an excellent character trait for kids. Help your child to reach for their dreams. But don’t forget: it’s about the journey, not the destination.

Being content with what they have won’t ruin their ambition, it’ll simply teach them to love every part of chasing their dreams.

You can help your child develop this trait by asking them what they are grateful for in life — particularly when they are disappointed about something. This is a really good conversation to have at the end of each day, and will help gratitude become second nature!

5.   Curiosity

Curiosity comes naturally to many kids, but we’re not always so nurturing of it.

We all know how tiring it can be when your little one is forever asking “why?”. And it’s all too easy to shut these questions down (even when we have the best intentions!)

But curiosity is a brilliant character trait for kids to have. It opens them up to new ideas and ways of seeing the world — something we should even encourage in older children.

Curiosity goes hand in hand with learning, so developing this trait can really help your kids in school.

It will also help them in their social development. Curious children have a better understanding of other people and their differences, which will help them to build strong, positive relationships as they age.

You can encourage this character trait in your child by:

• Taking them to new places as often as possible
• Being available for discussions about the world
• Being the one to ask them questions.

6.   Empathy

Empathy is a character trait that we all look for in our friends.

The ability to understand and share the feelings of others is great for a child’s social development, as it’s something they’ll be able to use for the rest of their life.

You can help your child to develop this character trait by talking to them about how others might be feeling. You could even try having family meetings where everyone’s opinions are considered, or getting involved in a community service group and bringing your kid along.

This list of character traits for kids will help you raise a loving, respectful, curious, happy, determined, child!

We all want the best for our kids.

By spending a bit of time encouraging these character traits in your kids, you’re helping them become the best versions of themselves they can possibly be.