The traits your child needs to succeed

   Many parents have a prejudged list of what are the key factors that would make their child succeed such as ' a high IQ, a terrific school, well-run lessons, skilled teachers, a creative curriculum and high expectations'.
   These are all characteristics that will help a child along their path to success but the great secret to success will lie in the children themselves. A child with the right attitude to learning can flourish in an ordinary school better than a child in the best school money can buy with a poor attitude.
  There are six key qualities that parents can implement in their children that will help them do their best in school. These are:
 
1. Joi de vivre: This includes the ability to be open and receptive, to be willing and feel connected - to have a hearty enjoyment of life.
 
2. Resilience: The ability to recover quickly from change or misfortune. An important characteristic to have as a child as it allows then to ward off depression or anxiety as it allows them to learn that education has setbacks but they can overcome them. Resilient children learn from their mistakes and do not ponder on them, e.g. I didn't do well on this test, but I know i didn't do enough work. I'll do more revision next time and hopefully it will be a better paper as well.

3. Self-discipline: 'Great learners need to listen, absorb and think.' They need to persevere with hard tasks, manage their time well and keep focused throughout the year. Children that take their time to think about an answer before raising their hand will be better learners than children that shout out the first answer that comes to their head. Saying this, a child that is overly controlled will not have a joyous childhood and their memories of learning will become that of stress and remaining focused 24/7. A balance is crucial.
 
4. Honesty: Does your child admit when they do not know something? If they are struggling with solving word problems, will they speak up or say they're fine? Honesty is key as this allows the child to identify their own weaknesses. They can then speak up in the classroom and ask for help. If it's simply asking what a word means in the comprehension, they are still expanding their knowledge.
 
5. Courage: The courage to speak up in class if they do not know how the teacher got to that answer. The courage to to try and fail but yet try again. The courage to tell the person distracting them to be quiet so they can get on with their work

6. Kindness: Kindness is being kind to themselves. To understand that learning is hard but not to have a negative voice discouraging them; but have a positive voice urging them to carry on over every hurdle. A kind disposition also allows them to work productively in teams and groups.

Does your child have these traits?

For the full article click on the link below:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/schools/six-of-the-best-the-traits-your-child-needs-to-succeed-8899903.html