{photo by Bradley Swenson}
“It is of little traits that the greatest human character is composed.”
~ William Winter
A new month is upon us, which means a new character trait to focus on. February’s trait is Humility:
Knowing, accepting and being who we are while demonstrating modesty about our accomplishments and gifts, admitting mistakes and valuing others for who they are and for their input.
Catch phrase: Admit mistakes and cheer others on.
One way to nurture this character trait in everyday life is to use the above catch phrase as a practical tool – let’s all practice admitting mistakes and cheering others on! This can be applied to many situations and is something even very young children can understand and work on. It’s also a good tool for discussing the difference between humility and humiliation (which is not what we want to instill!).
If your child is involved in a sport, that’s another easy opportunity to work on admitting mistakes, being modest about accomplishments, and cheering others on.
President’s Day is celebrated this month, which presents a wonderful opportunity to discuss the humility of the two presidents who are usually the focus of this holiday: George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. Our students will probably remember many examples of President Washington’s humility, but here’s a fun article with two short stories that you could read to your kids to discuss this trait:
2 Stories of George Washington and the Power of Humility
And we will be reading a lot about Abraham Lincoln in Trimester 3, but here’s an interesting article from Psychology Today that you could summarize and discuss around the dinner table, about how President Lincoln’s humility made him a great leader:
Learning Humility from Lincoln
And of course, here is this month’s handy mini-poster to print and display, if you choose (click on the link or image for the full size pdf):
February Character Trait: Humility
How do you encourage humility at home? Please leave a comment and share ideas!
