All parents intuitively know that getting good grades and landing your dream job is great but there is much more to life. Life is also about emotional and relationship intelligence applied in any social setting. This includes becoming a person of good character.
It appears that most educational programs, whatever the level, offer the opportunity for individuals to gain the prerequisite knowledge and skills for vocational success. This apparent bias serves as a handicap to the development of the whole person.
What then is integral to your teenager's holistic development?
The answer is three fold.
Firstly, the bedrock foundation of any education is education of the heart. Heart is the inclination to love.
Development of heart means the maturing of character. It means becoming a decent human being.
A teenager may have all the knowledge and skills needed in life but if their orientation is self serving, there is no moral ground upon which to act in the best interests of others. If such a person were to be assigned any kind of leadership role, they would be ill equipped to fulfill their responsibility.
The second vital element of education is about developing one's ability to engage in loving and ethical relationships. I was pleasantly surprised when my brother-in-law, who had seemingly lived decades of his life absorbed in simply making money, came out and said "life is all about relationships".
Have you ever heard of anyone on their death bed saying something like "gee, I wish I could have spent more time at work?". Rather the expressed regret of so many on their death bed is more along the lines of, "I wish I had of spent time with my loved ones." Thus in your parent teenager relationship, developing relationship skills is indispensable.
The third dimension of education is the one that we are all familiar with and that is, education for mastery. It includes academic and technical education as well as education in the arts.
While mastery is an important component for life success, without a selfless heart and the capacity to relate well with others, the success you gain will have a hollow ring to it. With this kind of knowledge, may you advance, creating a wonderful parent teenager relationship.
It appears that most educational programs, whatever the level, offer the opportunity for individuals to gain the prerequisite knowledge and skills for vocational success. This apparent bias serves as a handicap to the development of the whole person.
What then is integral to your teenager's holistic development?
The answer is three fold.
Firstly, the bedrock foundation of any education is education of the heart. Heart is the inclination to love.
Development of heart means the maturing of character. It means becoming a decent human being.
A teenager may have all the knowledge and skills needed in life but if their orientation is self serving, there is no moral ground upon which to act in the best interests of others. If such a person were to be assigned any kind of leadership role, they would be ill equipped to fulfill their responsibility.
The second vital element of education is about developing one's ability to engage in loving and ethical relationships. I was pleasantly surprised when my brother-in-law, who had seemingly lived decades of his life absorbed in simply making money, came out and said "life is all about relationships".
Have you ever heard of anyone on their death bed saying something like "gee, I wish I could have spent more time at work?". Rather the expressed regret of so many on their death bed is more along the lines of, "I wish I had of spent time with my loved ones." Thus in your parent teenager relationship, developing relationship skills is indispensable.
The third dimension of education is the one that we are all familiar with and that is, education for mastery. It includes academic and technical education as well as education in the arts.
While mastery is an important component for life success, without a selfless heart and the capacity to relate well with others, the success you gain will have a hollow ring to it. With this kind of knowledge, may you advance, creating a wonderful parent teenager relationship.
About the Author:
Are you worn out, frustrated and at your wits end about how to move forward in your relationship with your teen? You are not alone. To go beyond your present impasse, may I suggest that before you do anything else, grab a hold of parenting expert, Paul Saver's seven FREE videos. Each short video is createdto revolutionize your parent teen relationship so that the barriers can come down and you can really start communicating meaningfully.
No comments:
Post a Comment