Did your children treat you with respect every day of this past week? Did they speak to you in respectful voices? Did they listen attentively when you spoke to them? Did they respect your wishes, and comply readily with them? Just think about it a moment.
Did you show respect to your spouse every day of this past week? Was that respect exercised in not interrupting him or her? Were you able to show that you value your spouse? Did you treat him or her the way you want to be treated? Oh, and did you call your children’s teachers and tell them how much you appreciate their work? No?
Well, your children did take responsibility for their actions every day of the past week, didn’t they? The little ones picked up their toys, and parked their muddy shoes at the door. The older ones cleaned their rooms and did their homework – and no one had to be reminded, did they? Oh really? It didn’t happen that way?
Surely your spouse and you were models of responsibility this past week, weren’t you? You hung up your clothing; did the laundry, including putting it away; helped the middle child with the science project as promised…. You even called each of your children’s teachers, and asked how your child needed to improve in responsibility at school.
National Character Counts Week ends today. I hope it has meant big changes in your home. I hope that this one week has helped you understand some of the reasons that it is so important for your local school to have a good character education program. I hope it has kindled a fire in you, a passion to build your own character with self-help books such as Character and Courage.
Just picture this for a moment. Your whole family, from the youngest to the oldest, saving money, enjoying better health and safety, sharing love with one another – all because you decided that character building is important.
Imagine what your family could become if, every evening, you set aside 30 minutes for character building. You would read to your youngest from the Character Companions™ Series – or listen to them read those books to you. Your 9-11 year olds would read from the Character Mystery Series, and your teens from the Character-in-Action® Series. Some evenings, instead of reading, you would all set goals, or record progress in your individual character journals. You might even scatter character reminders around your home: mugs, mouse pads, posters, or even a character teddy bear.
You’ve got to wonder how it would be to live in your new, improved family! In 30 short minutes each evening, you could lay a strong foundation, and build upon it the kind of character that would have a powerful, positive influence on all of you.
Setting aside one week each October to observe the importance of character is good, but what would happen if your family undertook to build character every week? Little by little, you all become more responsible. Little by little, you all show respect. Honesty is in every room of your house, and self-control referees every interaction.
I think it would be great to end National Character Counts Week with that resolution.
That’s the view from my chair. What’s your view?