Often as busy parents trying to keep up in a frenzied world, the last thing we seem to have time for is reminding our young children to put their shoes away, pick up their toys, or make their beds.

Yet, this is precisely the time to teach our children these things. If we don't teach them good habits now, we will inadvertently teach them bad habits they will struggle with later.

Often times these struggles become a lifetime’s.

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”

— Aristotle

I have a friend who told me that from a very young age his mother taught him, over and over again, to fold his bath towel and hang it up after he used it.

Eventually, said friend learned to fold his towel without thinking about it. It had become a rock-solid habit.

As an adult, he told me that his wife loved how he always left his towel neatly folded and hanging on the towel rack. The right habits will even help our children become better spouses!

Good habits are the foundation of our characters; our characters are built upon good habits. Therefore, when we help our children form the right habits, we are also helping them in developing good character traits.

We want to raise children who shine; who are bright lights in a world that seems to have lost its way.

Arguably, one of the most difficult but important aspects of parenting is consistency. We have to have the habit of being diligent! I always tell people my favorite perk to homeschooling was educating myself, and it is the same thing with parenting.

The more we improve our own habits, the better positioned we are to help our children develop habits that support them in fulfilling their dreams in life.

While we guide our children on the path of becoming their very best, we get to work on becoming our very best too.

One habit you might think about developing now because it will have a huge impact on your child’s level of education is a reading habit. When children see us read, they’ll read too.

The more they read, the more they learn. The more they learn, the smarter they become.

“Nothing so needs reforming as other people’s habits.”

— ― Mark Twain

Another habit might be the habit of discipline. Discipline is easily taught when children develop a skill over time, such as playing a musical instrument or becoming an advanced player of a sport. Learning a foreign language takes discipline too.

It can also be taught by doing daily chores. Anything a child has to do on a regular basis that he might not always feel like doing will help him develop discipline.

Good habits take time to develop, but once established, they make life a whole lot easier, happier, and more rewarding!

Don’t miss your free download, 6 Reasons Homeschooled Kids Have Better Social Skills.

Get a copy of Liz’s “could not live without” book, Education’s Not the Point: How Schools Fail to Train Children’s Minds and Nurture Their Characters with groundbreaking Essays on educating your kids by John Taylor Gatto, Dorothy Sayers, and Liz herself.

About Elizabeth Y. Hanson

Developing a comprehensive understanding of how to raise and educate a “whole” child, based on tradition and modern research, Liz devotes her time to helping parents to get it right.

Liz is a homeschooling thought-leader, as well as the creator of two unique online courses, Raise Your Child Well: Preserving Your Child's Natural Genius by Laying a Solid Foundation During the First Seven Years and the Smart Homeschooler Academy: Homeschooling the "Whole" Child for a Well-Trained Mind and Character

As an Educator, Homeschool Emerita, Writer, and Love and Leadership Certified Parenting Coach, Liz has 23 years of experience raising children and working in education.

Liz is available for one-on-one consultations as needed.

"I know Elizabeth Y. Hanson as a remarkably intelligent, highly sensitive woman with a moral nature and deep insight into differences between schooling and education. Elizabeth's mastery of current educational difficulties is a testimony to her comprehensive understanding of the competing worlds of schooling and education. She has a good heart and a good head. What more can I say?”

—John Taylor Gatto Distinguished educator, public speaker, and best-selling author of Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling. For a copy of The Short Angry History of Compulsory Schooling, click here.