Teach your kids essential habits that will guarantee lifelong success with these 15 basic rules of life. Learn how to help your kids flourish and excel with our detailed guide.
Think about your pregnancy journey. How you invested in a good diet and supplement to ensure that your fetus had a perfect body and brain development.
Now that the kid is quite independent, it’s essential to invest in their emotions and mental faculties for better environmental understanding.
Sometimes It’s surprising how parents spent years and money nurturing a child’s physical development; yet neglect emotional and psychological needs, essential for street growth and survival.
This article highlights the fifteen basic rules of life that you should teach your kids to mould them into intelligent and street-smart people.
Let’s dive in.
15 Rules of Life To Teach Your Kids If You Want Them To Be Intelligent
1. Whatever you think Consistently, you create
I believe you’re very familiar with the law of attraction. But your preteen may not be aware unless you introduce it in their mind.
Wise parents teach their kids that whatever your mind can comprehend, you can achieve.
Napoleon Hill, the author of Think and Grow Rich, observed that any given idea’s creation process starts in the imagination. Followed by a decision and a strong will to accomplish it.
The philosophers of The Law of Attraction state that what you can imagine you become. What you feel you attract while you create what you’re constantly thinking about.
As a wise parent, don’t leave your kid to experiment with life entirely; instead, teach him how their thoughts can impact their life.
2. You will not always win
In any competition, there must be a winner and a loser. While it feels good to win and one should always strive to lead, sometimes you lose to your opponent.
Let your child understand that you cannot win all arguments. You cannot win all contracts, and accepting defeat is not a sign of weakness.
As a wise parent, train your child, especially boys, to learn to accept when they lose without holding grudges or yearning for revenge.
3. Forgiveness is a command and not a request
Not forgiving is self-imprisonment. It will cage your soul and spirit, not to mention the weakening of your flesh.
Wise parents teach their kids the dangers of holding grudges. It doesn’t matter whether you are right or wrong. Forgiving your enemies will save you lots of heartaches and health issues.
Also, teach your kids to learn self-forgiveness. Whether it was a silly mistake or breaking a promise, forgiving oneself brings healing.
There is no point of living in regret over a mistake you made a long time again. Be courageous to accept, learn and move on.
Holding onto an offense makes you relive your bad experiences several times. Try looking back. You may realize that you’ve even overpaid for that mistake. So, you are not indebted to anyone.
Learn to deal with anger and resentment for better relationships, mental health, and general wellbeing.
4. Gratitude opens doors
A grateful person always remits positive energy that attracts positive things in her life. Wise parents teach their kids to appreciate the things they have no matter how little they may look.
According to Harvard Medical School, being thankful helps people have positive emotions. This improves their health, enables them to build good relationships while having faith to deal with adversity.
Wise parents train their kids to appreciate their past, the present, and the future. They also learn to appreciate people who contribute towards their well-being, like teachers and nannies.
Focusing our energy on what we lack breeds anxiety and worry. This lowers the quality of life by creating stagnation in specific areas.
Instead of concentrating on closed doors, let’s learn to be grateful for the open ones first, and God will find a way of promoting us.
5. Failure is also a good teacher, learn and graduate
Entrepreneurs and all successful investors understand this. They believe that to increase your wins, you got to try, and the more you try, the higher the chances of failing.
It’s natural to get more NOs before landing your big YES. Hence, giving up is not an option in the success race.
Wise parents teach their kids to embrace failure positively, for every moment of failure takes you closer to your success.
Unlike in a school set-up that discourages failing, life has a way of rewarding those who fail and learn from their mistakes.
A successful failure leaves you full of knowledge. More mature and above all gives you a pat on the shoulder that boss, you’ve taken action, and even though you failed, it’s one step closer to your success.
6. Learn to let go
Learn to let go of things or people that do not add value to your life. Maybe their seasons and assignments in your life are over. And, holding unto it creates more pain than good.
Make a conscious decision to let go of emotional pain. Try practicing mindfulness, focusing on yourself, and having positive affirmations.
Whether it’s a friend or event, you loved so much but is no longer beneficial to you, learn to let go.
A wise parent will teach their kids to drop the past and leave it where it belongs so that they can reap future benefits.
Holding onto past issues denies you the joy of exploring and finding new possibilities. If it’s too painful, cry all you can but keep moving.
7. Your time is also an investment
Kids grow up knowing how bad it feels to lose money. Perhaps they encountered a con man who got away with all their savings leaving them devastated. But what about the time cons?
Wise parents teach their kids that their time is also an investment. If someone doesn’t value it, he may as well waste their life.
For instance, a person who keeps telling you to come tomorrow has robbed you of today’s earnings. Teach your kids to spot a timer waster so that they can avoid them.
Use your time well by investing in yourself. Always spend quality time with people you cherish, and also learn to value other people’s time.
8. Don’t compare. Compete with yourself
Every person is gifted differently. A great man once said that if you judge a fish by how fast it can climb a tree, you’ll probably spend the rest of your life thinking that it’s stupid.
Wise parents encourage their kids to better themselves rather than compete with others. Focus on what you can perform well, based on your ability. Always strive to outperform your yesterday’s achievements.
Focusing on yourself helps you appreciate your progress, no matter how little. It also elevates your self-esteem and curbs fake and pretentious life. Teach your kids to follow this simple rule; that in all you do, ensure that you leave a mark of excellence. That is the essence of growth.
9. It’s about you make it happen
A philosopher once said nobody could make you feel insignificant without your consent. Yes, we often collaborate with our enemies to pull down ourselves.
Wise parents teach their kids that the power to build or destroy their lives is in their hands. In everything you see, hear, or taste, it’s essential to examine whether they are worthy of your attention.
For instance, If someone looks down on your abilities, it’s always an excellent opportunity to prove them wrong through your accomplishment. Don’t join them in pulling you down by giving up. Learn the art of self-motivation rather than moving with trends and people’s opinions.
If someone says a nasty thing about you, judge the motive behind it before reacting. Perhaps if the person intends to make you angry, you can always choose to walk away from them. Sometimes it’s even better to let the law take its cause.
In all your actions, do not give away your power to someone through acting irrational.
10. Be the lending hand
Everyone has something to give. And humanity is about interdependence.
Wise parents teach their kids always to play their part because someone needs it. When you let go of what is in your hand, you create a vacuum to receive even something of higher value.
Teach your kids to be givers as this act of kindness brings fulfillment and meaning to life.
Let them know that giving is not necessarily a material thing, but rather even a simple hug to a broken spirit can bring a considerable change.
11. Honor brings favor
Wise parents teach their kids how to esteem others, especially the elderly. When you honor someone, it’s a sign of respect.
It doesn’t matter the social status of an individual but rather the character of the person honoring. And whatever you plant today may come back when you least expect.
12. Growth happens out of your comfort zone
Just like the eagle’s story and how it trains its young ones to fly, growth can be a little pricky.
If you want something, how badly do you want it? What can you sacrifice or are you’re willing to forego to get it?
From learning a new concept to Breaking a habit or even making new connections, you need to stretch beyond your comfort zone.
Our brains are wired to operate within the comfort zone. So, stretching your neck to feed on fresh leaves can be uncomfortable yet rewarding.
13. You’re an average of the five people you hang around
According to Jim Rohn, a motivational speaker, you’re the average of five people you spend most of your time with.
Based on the law of averages, Jon states that your result is always the average of the total outcome. And this concept applies in any given circumstance.
Think about success. It’s almost a 99% guarantee that if you walk with successful people, you will succeed. And the reverse is true with failure.
It’s thus good to tell our kids that hanging around visional friends breeds visions. while staying around mediocre will eventually turn them into cowards. And it’s even better if you started today.
14. Do it now. Procrastination Kills Productivity
Wise parents teach their kids that; the hardest yet the best thing to do is “to just begin”.
The best moment to act is when you’re feeling inspired. Let the inspiration fuel your energy and arouse your creativity towards accomplishing your goals.
Tomorrow can be too late because everyone is on the run, and an excellent idea today may not fit tomorrow’s demands.
According to Dr. Tim, when speaking to the New York Times, procrastination is more of an emotional regulation issue than laziness or poor time management.
People avoid tackling activities in which they feel negative emotions around. Sometimes you’re afraid of failure or just lurking in your low self-esteem.
Learning to control your emotions can be a significant step in your journey towards fighting procrastination.
15. Reward yourself
Rewarding yourself is an expression of self-love. It’s simply learning to pat yourself on the shoulders before others do it.
Scientifically, rewarding yourself elevates your energy levels and fosters you towards more achievement.
Wise parents encourage their kids to celebrate their mall wins without feeling guilty.
After all, it’s the courage to take these baby steps that finally give us the big wins. And, you’re the only person who understands the effort you put in to achieve your small goals. Get out there and enjoy your pizza, a movie night, or maybe a holiday.
Takeaway
Teaching your preteens these 15 basic rules of life as a daily routine enhances their intelligence. These rules can also guide them when making decisions in the future, especially as teenagers.
That is my take. What is your thought?
Kindly leave a comment and share these rules with other parents so that we can prepare our preteens early before they start making decisions in their teens.
Related:
- Kids Who Become Great Leaders Have Parents Who Teach These 8 Unique Life Lessons
- Stranger Danger: How To Teach Your Kids About Stranger Danger Without Instilling Fear
- How To Raise Financially Responsible Kids (Your Practical Guide)
