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Character Education
By Brent Sitton, Fri Dec 9th
Every parent wants their child to develop positive charactertraits. One way to supplement your child's character educationis to act as a filter for the movies and television shows yourchild watches, and to review the books your childreads. The following categories are modeled after "TheBook of Virtues for Young People," an excellent book forchildren in its own right, written by William Bennett. Whendeveloping a curriculum of character education for your child,it's helpful to review each children's book, television show,and movie for both positive and negative examples of each of theten virtues outlined in "The Book of Virtues for Young People."The stronger the message, the more it will contribute to yourchild's character education. Following are some ways inwhich the virtues can manifest as character traits in children'sbooks, movies, and in television shows:
Self-Discipline:A character discusses his feelings of anger rather thanimpulsively striking out. Or, a character gets his chores donebefore he goes out to play. Compassion: A characterunderstands the pain or suffering of a friend, and steps in tohelp, even when it means she can't attend the party she waslooking forward to. Responsibility: A character admitsit was his baseball that broke the window, and offers to pay fora replacement. Or, a character keeps her promise to babysit heryounger sister, even though she'd rather go to the movies withher friends. Friendship: A character stands up for herfriend in front of her peers, even though it's not popular. Or,a character befriends the class bully in an effort to get him tochange his ways. Work: A character approaches her jobwith a positive attitude, and does her very best even when herboss is being unfair. Or, a character makes up a game to getthrough an unpleasant task, and takes pride in her work eventhough it goes unnoticed. Courage: A character is afraidof the raging waters, but takes the risk and dives in to saveher family. Or, a character stands up for what he believes in,even though it's unpopular. Perseverance: A charactercontinues to strive to make the
team, even thoughhe's a foot shorter than the other players. Or, a family workstogether to keep their home, even though the father has lost hisjob and the mother is ill. Honesty: A character admitsto himself that he isn't trying his hardest. Or, a charactertalks to an adult about a friend in trouble, even though thefriend will get angry at her. Loyalty: A charactersticks with his losing soccer team in the hope of helping thembecome better, rather than joining a winning soccer team. Or, acharacter stays at her friend's side during a serious illness orhardship. Faith: A character reaches out to God to helphim in his time of need. When evaluating charactertraits and virtues in kids' books, movies, and television shows,also look at negative behavioral influences. Ideally, theseinfluences will be minimal. Consider, for example: Violence: Does the character hurt himself, anotherperson, or an animal through his words or actions, and does heact without remorse? Profanity: Does the character usefoul language, sexual language, or take God's name in vain? Nudity: Does the movie, television show, or book show ordescribe suggestive styles of dress or partially clothed or nudecharacters? Sexual Content: Do the characters engage inimplied or overt sexual behavior, or do they engage in aberrantsexual behavior? Drugs, Alcohol, and Tobacco: Do thecharacters use or abuse legal or illegal substances? Scary Elements: Are the scenarios depicted gratuitouslyfrightening? Negative Behaviors: Does the character showdisrespect to his parents? Or, does he neglect his homework? Or,does he frighten other children? By evaluating both thepositive character traits and negative behaviors of movies,television shows, and books, and selecting those that reinforcethe values and virtues that are important to you, you'll go farin developing your child's character education. About the author:Brent Sitton is the founder of DiscoveryJourney.com, with Character trait based Children'sBook Reviews. Reviews contain related, fun and educationalactivities.
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