Your Child's Inner Strengths

Nurturing Your Child's Inner Strengths

By Jenifer Fox

Helping children find and develop their strengths is one of the greatest gifts parents can give. Strengths are the inner qualities that make us all feel most alive and energized. Our strengths give us the potential to make our most meaningful contribution to life. A child's strengths often show up at a very early age. Strengths are innate and usually last a lifetime. When strengths are combined with interests, children become passionate about learning! Here are nine simple ways to discover and develop your child's strengths.

Jenifer Fox, M.Ed., is the author of "Your Child's Strengths: A Guide for Parents and Teachers." She is head of the Purnell School in New Jersey, where she created and implemented The Affinities Program, a strengths-based curriculum for high school students. Learn more at strengthsmovement.com.

Create Family Rituals

Creating family traditions and rituals helps children discover their strengths because it gives them a rich fund of positive memories to draw on. Traditions are meaningful, and when children have an active role in creating that meaning, it will help them to identify what makes them feel good about themselves. Of course, holidays and religious rituals have built-in significance, but just about any family event can be made more meaningful if you connect it to a symbolic ritual. Some examples: at the end of the annual Fourth of July get-together, each member of the family could place a rock with their name on it in the garden, a symbol of stability and permanence. Or you could go outside to watch the sunset together and take turns saying what you were grateful for that day.