What does it take for a young person to develop into the proverbial "well-rounded individual?" What does it take to supplement and enrich a person's education? What experiences should a parent inculcate into their children's lives?
Here are seven important building blocks, in no particular order:
Learn to work, complete chores, and assume responsibility. From a very early age, a young person should learn how to help at home and develop a dependable work ethic.
Develop discipline and perseverance. Lots of people need help in this area. Learning simple lessons about waiting patiently, how to clean and organize, the benefits of delayed gratification, and how to finish what one starts can serve a person well throughout life.
Control your emotions. If a child has a fit of anger in a public place, it's not a pretty sight. (It can be even more unnerving when an adult does it). Any individual who cannot control himself is destined to have a lifetime of confrontations and more than his share of problems. While anger may be the most commonly observed out-of-control emotion, there are others. Unhealthy or misplaced love can blind one to other vantage points. Fear can overcome a person so that he or she cannot go forward. Bitterness (the inability to let go of the idea that someone or something else is always to blame) can distort one's view of reality. Regardless of the emotion, we must learn to control it, rather than having it control us.
Examine philosophical or religious questions. Most people have some religious beliefs or put them in to practice. It is good for every person to grapple with some of the deepest questions in life. Many people find peace of mind and make sense of life through a faith greater than themselves. Even if a person claims to be an atheist, he or she has to struggle with the same questions and the same issues. Many individuals find introspection and examining fundamental beliefs to be a meaningful journey. To suppress an honest examination of one's own soul is to always have, in the back of one's mind, uncertainties that are never addressed.
Don't overindulge in leisure, pleasure, or entertainment. A little ice cream can be very good. A weekend of relaxation can be just what the doctor ordered after a challenging work week. A good meal and an enjoyable evening with friends can be a blessing. But if all of life is spent avoiding work and seeking pleasant experiences then it becomes one that is unfulfilled. An addiction to pleasure or a tendency to overindulge can knock everything out of balance in a hurry.
Travel. There is much more to consider than our own vantage point in our own home town. There is always more to appreciate and more to learn. Traveling to other areas and seeing other cultures opens one's eyes and enriches all of life. Augustine is credited with saying, "The world is a book, and those who don't travel only read one page."
Have creative pursuits. A very young child is interested in everything he or she comes in to contact with. As the child becomes older, the interests become fewer, but there are always some that remain. Those interests should be encouraged, and the tendency to explore should continue. Adults can literally spend hours on some activities without being aware of how much time goes by. It is simply good to allow yourself to gravitate to that which is fascinating.
In our country, anyone can go to school and have an opportunity to better themselves. Those who have the good fortune of experiencing all seven of these building blocks are fully equipped to learn throughout life. Quite simply, their minds are fertile.
A life without these building block lessons can be empty, misguided, disappointing, and void of understanding. A life with them can be enriching, productive, rewarding, and one that contributes to all of society.
David Wilson, EdD, is one of the assistant principals at Jefferson City High School. You may e-mail him at [email protected].