Teach First Things First

Teaching your children good habits can’t begin too soon. The most powerful way to teach good habits is by having good habits yourself. “Do as I say not at I do,” simply doesn’t work for teaching good habits. Role modeling is how children learn. One of the most important habits to teach your child is the habit of “first things first.” This means to have the habit of doing what needs to be done in the right order. This often means doing the hardest thing first. For example, before you do your homework, do your chores. Before you watch television do your homework. This teaches delayed gratification and wards off the horribly self defeating habit of procrastination. This means do the difficult emotional work as well as the project or job work. For example, before the day ends make that difficult phone call. If you have done something wrong make up for it as soon as possible. Do the tough stuff first. This will allow you to enjoy the not so tough stuff all the more. Life is difficult and you can teach your children to handle the ups and downs of life so much better if you teach them to face and conquer the difficult tasks first.