Virtues Parents Need to Nurture in Kids For Their Success

Kids who seek and get answers learn more and hence achieve a lot more. Nurturing positive mental habits and core character qualities during childhood lays a robust foundation for long-term health and emotional intelligence. Here are the 5 key virtues parents should focus on cultivating: 1. **Curiosity** Kids who seek and get answers learn more and hence achieve a lot more. Imbibe the quality of asking WHY & HOW. Encourage them to seek answers. Simultaneously provide them sources for their questions. 2. **Independence** One of the most valued qualities. Make kids perform their own tasks, with just your guidance. Importantly, give them reasons why you guided them in that manner, so the next time they would do that task independently and correctly as well. Decision-making is the weakest of qualities in Gen Z and millennials. Make a habit of gathering knowledge in order for them to take informed decisions. 3. **Determination/Grit** However naturally blessed/talented a person would be, the key to success is determination/grit. Make them good fighters to overcome obstacles to reach their goals. "Never Give Up!" should be ringing in their ears when they encounter disappointment with a failure. 4. **Respect** Encourage your own behavior of respecting everyone around. They will automatically learn that. Being humble paves the path to a long-lasting success without falling down at any stage. Distinctly, work on not developing bias or stereotypes, which should be reflecting in your own behavior. Media is full of biased and stereotypical information these days; try to shape their tender minds with a conscious effort of staying away from bias. 5. **Emotional Awareness & Emotional Work-through** Knowing about emotions and how to face them helps in all the above. Let them take baby steps to understand and be aware of their own emotions and later overcome them to develop a stable personality devoid of any mental disease in adulthood. The ever-competing ecosystem with nuclear families and lesser social interaction & cohesion may lead to some undesired elements of jealousy and unfair competition driven narcissism. Emotional awareness & dealing with those emotions would help kids to stave off those bad qualities. #### DISCOURAGE GUILT/REGRET IN YOUR KIDS Let kids know it's okay to fail or be wrong. It's an inevitable part of life. Teach them how to survive a failure without developing guilt. Guilt snowballs into behavioral issues in adulthood. Work on developing suitable coping strategies to overcome the regret of failure or guilt of being wrong. **Author**: Dr. Cyril Kadam *Ayurvedic Neuropsychiatrist* *Founder & Chief Health Mentor - Genesis Positive Health's MindCare Clinics*