The Glass Half Full: Raising Children to be Positive Thinkers

In many instances in their kids' lives, parents have a habit of completely ignoring the less positive aspects of their children's everyday lives and focus mainly on the most positive. For example, when the child feels down because they lost a ball game, parents tend to not approach the issue. However, when they win that big championship, they are patting their kids on the back and telling them what a great job they are doing! Generally, parents' thought process is to give their kids some time to themselves to deal with the issue. However, that is not exactly how the positive thinking works.

In the previous example, the proper way to handle this situation is not to ignore the issue, but to pick it apart, take the best parts, and then approach your child with it. For example, the game might have been lost, but your child hit two home runs. Accent that to them, but tell them how amazing that first home run was and how proud you were when they hit the second home run. Ask them about what they learned and how they could do better next time. Remind your children on things that they learn from every experience.

Negative thinking is something that can hinder children throughout their lives. A negative thinker will not try to do something that they think they might fail at. What's the point in trying if you will probably lose? On the other hand, the positive thinker will look at the situation and consider it a challenge. They go for the challenge and will consider the fact that if they make it, the success will be so much more enjoyable, simply because the odds are against them.

Of course, one of the best ways to teach your children to instinctively think positively is to be that way yourselves. That means you should not fill your days with such phrases as, "I dread doing this," or "This is a losing situation." Start avoiding negative words as much as possible. Words such as: cannot, could not, fail, failure, and never. These negative words in your vocabulary will eventually become part of your children's. Remember, the very first words that they learned were from you!

Another way to create a positive mindset in your children is to challenge them. Early on in life, children are instinctively positive thinkers. They believe that there is nothing that they cannot conquer. This is why the words, "I dare you," hold so much power with children. When someone dares them, it is a challenge. Use this to your advantage. Challenge them to do things that some other children cannot do. If they fail, tell them how proud you are that they aren't afraid to take a chance and at how determined they are. We need to teach our kids early in life that a challenge is a good thing, not just another failure waiting to happen!

Teach your children to see challenges as opportunities. If you teach your children that a challenge is a positive concept, then when that daunting job opportunity pops up later on in life, they will smile and say, "I believe in myself."