PERSEVERANCE

First, Wow! Perseverance Rover landed on Mars! Congratulations! What an accomplishment, what a big dream, big wish, big hope for Nasa, and they made it happen, because they didn't give up.
Keep in mind our dreams, hopes, wishes and prayers are not answered or reached over night. However, when you believe in your project, you stay at it, you never give it up, you may tweek it, need to practice it, but, you don't give up. If you're not familiar with our Characters of Character, the above character is Do'er Duck who teaches perseverance.

Can you imagine? Having a dream, a wish, a goal, a deadline? We all have them. When you don't give up, battle through the hardships and there will be hardships, you can accomplish
what you set out to do. What a wonderful feeling it is. But,what if you have all of those and don't live to achieve them. Many of us are in this predicament (as an example, I'll use Martin Luther King, "I have a dream" where his dream outlived him,) or know of others who were. None
the less, if you don't try it, if you don't attempt it, if you don't give it shot, you will never know. My husband Joe and I often say, "well, we won't be sitting in our rocking chair wishing we would have" because when we have the opportunity, we do it. That's one way to persevere, I'm talking big dreams here. Going after that dream job, moving your family to another state, supporting your wife's passion to make a difference with her nonprofit organization. These are big goals,
dreams, wishes and situations that require perseverance.

Perseverance Pays Off-High Five

Click Do'er Duck has some tips to help teach PERSEVERANCE to your own children. Please, be sure to visit us at Character Corner for A LOT OF FREE ACTIVITIES TO TEACH CHARACTER!!

First, a discussion to communicate what it means to persevere is prevelant. Explain to your child what perseverance means, what it looks like, what it sounds like and especially how it feels like. When you are a role model is extremely powerful. Think about how you react when you fail at a
task. Are you throwing a hissy fit? Or, do you say, hmmm....that didn't work, lets try it again, and again and again? We know that there are many things in like that are difficult, life is difficult, relationships, learning a new skill, meeting new people, beleiving in who we are all can be difficult. Once you have your mindset to not get discouraged, go in thinking that this might be a bit hard, but, I'm pretty sure that I can complete this, that I can learn this or that I will do this, your tasks become easier.

The same is true when teaching our children about perseverance. Think about it, they are
learning so many new things from the day they're born. While nothing comes easy, anything worth knowing is worth learning. Patience is important, encouragement is crucial, and follow through matters. If and when your child throws a tantrum or shuts down because the task is
difficult, stop and breathe, how is your approach to the task? We need to explain things to our children, and sometimes more than once. Be patient, be consistent, be a role model.

Tips To Teach Perseverance To Kids

1. Discuss what Perseverance is
2. Introduce your child to Do'er Duck to relate to
3. Print out Do'er Duck, discuss the trait, put your child's name on the pencil, let your child color the page, display and use as a sticker chart
4. Print out the above and use as a Journal cover for your child to draw
in and write in about their daily activities which they work hard at to
persevere
5. Print out the Perseverance Checklist below, read it with your child, display it eye level so your child uses this as a visual reminder
6. Building off of the Checklist below, build a reward system, when your
child has accomplished these, use it for a weekly or bi-weekly reward
system. What does your child cherish, more game time, a special treat,
use this as encouragement and watch them keep trying to keep trying.

Now, some of you may feel that a child shouldn't be rewarded for things that they should be doing. I encourage you to think about yourself. When you have accomplished something in your life, do you reward yourself? When you lose your first ten pounds, do you allow yourself a cheat, or when
you earned a promotion at work, do you celebrate? Celebrate with your child their accomplishments, no matter how small it may seem to you, it is huge to them. We raised our children with praise, it build their self-esteem and always gave them something to strive for. There are no rules here, do what you feel is appropriate for your family, however,
when we are role models, when we encourage our children, when we have visual reminders and when we listen to our children, we're building a better tomorrow.

Click here to download your own Perseverance Chart for your child and you.

When I used Do'er Duck in the classroom, the children related to the character and then internalized the trait. I received a phone call one night from one of my students who shared this: "Miss Joni, I lost my keys, I was frantic running around the house and looking for these keys,
when my daughter said, "Mom, be like Do'er Duck, Don't Give Up, we'll find your keys" and low and behold, once I calmed down, I did find my keys! I wanted to say Thank you for teaching Jessica about Do'er Duck, we will never give up!

High`5 to Perseverance!

Characters of Character is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization whose mission is to
provide a firm foundation for children to establish strong civic values.
You can donate here. You can learn more about the characters here. You can learn more about our Tennessee Superhero Activity Box project here for Children's Hospitals. You can learn more about our Texas Superhero Activity project here for Children's Hospitals. You can learn more about our Mindfulness Project here for Hendersonville. Learn more about getting involved here.