Prosperity Horizons Educational News

Are You Taking Responsibility?

We think of education as the experience of going to school or college, and of course it is but there are other forms of education which are just as important. One of these is character education and character building.  As a parent we have a responsibility to our children to help them develop into strong responsible adults. We also have a responsibility to ourselves. The following articles Character Education and  Are You Taking Responsibility? will help us in our quest.

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Character Education
By Brent Sitton

 
Every parent wants their child to develop positive character traits. One way to supplement your child's character education is to act as a filter for the movies and television shows your child watches, and to review the books your child reads.

The following categories are modeled after "The Book of Virtues for Young People," an excellent book for children in its own right, written by William Bennett. When developing 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 the ten virtues outlined in "The Book of Virtues for Young People." The stronger the message, the more it will contribute to your child's character education.

Following are some ways in which the virtues can manifest as character traits in children's books, movies, and in television shows:

Self-Discipline: A character discusses his feelings of anger rather than impulsively striking out. Or, a character gets his chores done before he goes out to play.

Compassion: A character understands the pain or suffering of a friend, and steps in to help, even when it means she can't attend the party she was looking forward to.

Responsibility: A character admits it was his baseball that broke the window, and offers to pay for a replacement. Or, a character keeps her promise to babysit her younger sister, even though she'd rather go to the movies with her friends.

Friendship: A character stands up for her friend in front of her peers, even though it's not popular. Or, a character befriends the class bully in an effort to get him to change his ways.

Work: A character approaches her job with a positive attitude, and does her very best even when her boss is being unfair. Or, a character makes up a game to get through an unpleasant task, and takes pride in her work even though it goes unnoticed.

Courage: A character is afraid of the raging waters, but takes the risk and dives in to save her family. Or, a character stands up for what he believes in, even though it's unpopular.

Perseverance: A character continues to strive to make the basketball team, even though he's a foot shorter than the other players. Or, a family works together to keep their home, even though the father has lost his job and the mother is ill.

Honesty: A character admits to himself that he isn't trying his hardest. Or, a character talks to an adult about a friend in trouble, even though the friend will get angry at her.

Loyalty: A character sticks with his losing soccer team in the hope of helping them become better, rather than joining a winning soccer team. Or, a character stays at her friend's side during a serious illness or hardship.

Faith: A character reaches out to God to help him in his time of need.

When evaluating character traits and virtues in kids' books, movies, and television shows, also look at negative behavioral influences. Ideally, these influences will be minimal. Consider, for example:

Violence: Does the character hurt himself, another person, or an animal through his words or actions, and does he act without remorse?

Profanity: Does the character use foul language, sexual language, or take God's name in vain?

Nudity: Does the movie, television show, or book show or describe suggestive styles of dress or partially clothed or nude characters?

Sexual Content: Do the characters engage in implied or overt sexual behavior, or do they engage in aberrant sexual behavior?

Drugs, Alcohol, and Tobacco: Do the characters use or abuse legal or illegal substances?

Scary Elements: Are the scenarios depicted gratuitously frightening?

Negative Behaviors: Does the character show disrespect to his parents? Or, does he neglect his homework? Or, does he frighten other children?

By evaluating both the positive character traits and negative behaviors of movies, television shows, and books, and selecting those that reinforce the values and virtues that are important to you, you'll go far in developing your child's character education.

About the Author: Brent Sitton is the founder of http://www.DiscoveryJourney.com , with Character based Children's Book Reviews. Reviews contain related, fun and educational kid activity. http://www.discoveryjourney.com/bookchild.htm  http://www.discoveryjourney.com/kidactivity.htm

Character Education By Brent Sitton

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Are You Taking Responsibility?

 By Debbie Friedman
 

It is time to take responsibility for our actions and the results we create in our lives. It’s time to stop expecting someone else to do for us what we are unwilling to do for ourselves. It’s time to remember that no one is doing it to us and no one is going to do it for us.

We have the right and the responsibility to powerfully, positively choose what we desire for our lives, and to create our life we must also take the appropriate actions in our world.

I was leading a workshop where people voiced a string of “I can’ts” and one woman said she “wants to be out of debt.” There are no “can’ts”. Either you choose to or you don’t choose to. There is no “trying”. Either you do it or you don’t.

Remember that your mind does not have a sense of humor, does not know true from false, and does not know fact from fantasy. All your mind knows is what you feed it.

Your mind also has a strange way of eliminating certain words so that if you say “I want to be out of debt” your mind hears the shortened version of “want debt”.

If you say you don’t want to be afraid, your mind hears “be afraid”. When we say “I don’t want to forget”, we tend to forget. It’s best to say “I am remembering”. Focus on the positives of what you choose for your life so there is only certainty.

I have had several powerful reminders of this recently when I needed to take responsibility for my own actions.

In one case, I set aside a savings jar for “credit card debt”. The money I put in became like a magnet and do you know what happened? Yep! My credit card bills were growing each and every month.

Now, the truth is that I pay my credit cards in full every month, but I got rid of the jar so that I could create prosperity for more joyous events in my life.

In another case, I had a conversation with the director of an organization I’d joined. I’d paid for the membership on-line but she couldn’t find the records. I specifically told her “I don’t want to be charged twice for this.” Do you want to guess what happened? Right again. I was charged twice.

Here are some tips to improve your communication for creating:

1. Avoid using negatives. Take responsibility for your life by making powerful, positive statements of what you choose to experience. Remember that your mind does not have a sense of humor and will take whatever you tell it literally.

2. Be clear, specific, and detailed about what you choose for your life. Invest the time and effort to focus your thoughts so you can get more of what you desire and deserve. If what you get doesn’t meet your needs, become even more clear and specific in your choosing.

Be grateful for what you receive, and yet refine and define your choices more powerfully. Conscious creation is your right and your responsibility. You CAN have what you choose.

3. Let go of any old stories you’ve been telling yourself and others about the past. It’s the past. It’s gone. You can’t go back and redo it, but in the re-telling and re-living you re-create more of the same by keeping the past alive.

Live responsibly by responding, rather than reacting, to life. Learn the lessons you need so you can let go and grow into your powerful, prosperous future.

Instead, vision what you DO choose so that you can feel the excitement of everything you know is coming your way.

4. Be conscious. Be aware. Be awake. Not only of others, but of yourself and what you think, say, and do as a co-creator in your life. Be responsible. If something happens that you hadn’t expected, take time to figure out what you did to create it so you can do better in the future. No blame. No shame. Only gain.

Last, but not least, take time to have fun, laugh, and play. Those are the truly exquisite moments in life.

About the Author: Debbie Friedman, M.S., C.Ht., is the Manifesting Maven who helps people consciously create the life they love to live. She is the creator of the popular Cleaning Out the Closet of Your Mind for Wealth series. http://www.CleaningOutTheCloset.com

Are You Taking Responsibility?   By Debbie Friedman

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