Have You Seen our FB page?

We are having a BLAST over at our High 5 for Character Facebook page - not that you all shouldn't stop by here often - but our FB page is updated on a daily basis, multiple times. There you'll find tidbits about the five character traits that drive our book series: confidence, respect, empathy, honesty, and gratefulness. We scour the internet to find videos, quotes, and interesting articles that represent those character traits.

Here's our schedule:

Monday = Confidence
Tuesday = Respect
Wednesday = Empathy
Thursday = Honesty
Friday = Gratefulness
Saturday/Sunday = Family

We hope that you'll "Like" our FB page and stop by often. We love to hear what other High5ers have to say about the building blocks of a successful foundation for our kids!

Want a FREE book? :)

We're running a contest over at our High 5 for Character Facebook page...and it's really easy to enter!

• Like our Facebook Page 
• Share our Post (about the contest...the one pinned to the top of our page)
• Let us know how you keep your confidence

It's as easy as a free book! Contest ends Friday (7/25) and the winner will be announced at 3pm.

"Like" Us on Facebook & Follow Us on Twitter!

We're so excited to announce our new Facebook page, High 5 For Character. Please click over and "like" us!

We're also now on Twitter at @Hi5forCharacter. Consider following us and we'll follow you back!

Summer Opportunities to Create Kids with Character

This summer is a pretty light one for my family. My older son is working out with the hockey team and the younger son is counting down the days until he leaves for a fine arts camp. Two kids who couldn't be any more different!

Knowing this about them, over the years I've always tried to match their interests with activities throughout the summer. Even though I wished they would read and practice math facts every day, I knew that wasn't going to happen - and plus...they needed a break!

Several years ago, I learned about a wonderful service-learning project through my local YMCA called Summer of Service. Middle school and high school students spend a week throughout SE Michigan (where we live) helping at various organizations. Each day was different and would span from pulling weeds at an elementary school in downtown Detroit to helping sort food at a local food bank. The kids would spend from 9am until 2pm at the designated location. Highschoolers had more weeks to choose from, while the middleschoolers had only one week that was primarily for them. Find your local YMCA to see if they offer Summer of Service.

Another opportunity that we would take advantage of during the summer was Kids on Campus. This is a program at one of our local community colleges that offers a multitude of camps for kids as young as second grade and as old as ninth grade. Kids can choose from camps about acting, science, computer programming, video game creation, Lego Mindstorms...just to name a few. Some camps also had a more academic spin on them - how to improve reading skills, writing skills, math skills, etc. Check out the colleges in your area to see if such camps are available.

Creating kids with character doesn't just happen in the classroom. Help your child build a foundation of success by giving them opportunities for confidence, respect, empathy, honesty, and gratefulness around the house with some of these ideas:

• Try a new sport or music instrument - in a non-threatening situation, even the shyest child can gain a great amount of self-confidence.
• Give your child a chore such as folding the towels, doing the dishes, walking the dog, feeding the cat, making the salad for dinner, etc. - something to help them feel like they are an important aspect of running the day-to-day home.
• Visit an elderly relative, have your child make an "I Love You" card, and be ready to listen to stories from the "old days" when you visit.
• Encourage family members to a "summer cleaning" of their bedroom and toy chest. Determine which clothes can be handed down to younger siblings/cousin or donated. Those clothes that are too small and in good condition can be passed along to a "new" owner. Consider doing the same with toys.

What are some of the character-building activities that you do with your children during the summer?

Are You a Teacher who uses TeacherPayTeacher?

We've made it easy for you to bring the first two books of our Becoming a Better You! series to your classroom. We've created ebooks of Are You Confident Today? and Are You Respectful Today? just for you!

We're also working on classroom activities for each book that align with the Common Core Standards. Check back for more details!

Great Article on Are You Confident Today?

Just wanted to post a great article that was written up about the first book in the Becoming a Better You! series, Are You Confident Today?

Our books in the Becoming a Better You! series are aimed at helping your child achieve success in life!

What Do You Do When Your Kid Has Lost His Confidence?

I’m the mother of two teenage boys. The oldest is fifteen and the youngest just turned thirteen. You might think that boys this age would have as much confidence as they do appetites—which is HUGE, I might add. But, like any kid navigating through childhood and adolescence, their level of confidence ebbs and flows—and usually is dependent upon SOMEONE else...or so they think.

The oldest son plays hockey. You would think that after playing for almost ten years, he would be a wealth of confidence…especially now with his teammates and opposing players being as big as refrigerators. These are big boys who play rough. But when he doesn’t get ice time during games for whatever reason, he questions his abilities and the confidence that his coach has in him as a player. Game after game, this can spiral into a pretty ugly mess. This situation ends up devouring his confidence, making him second-guess himself when he’s on the ice, which results in mistakes—which then creates self-doubt, low self-esteem, etc. This lack of “hockey” confidence then flows to other areas in his life, as I can show you with some of his most recent grades. L

Watching a son or daughter lose their confidence is heart-wrenching. We want to pick them up, dust them off, and kiss and hug them until the hurt goes away.

But what’s a parent to do? No matter how much we say, “You’re awesome!” our words fall on deaf ears. He knows we think he’s awesome – he’s our kid! We aren’t the ones who can mend this situation.

And I’m here to tell you that it’s not the coach who can mend it either.

Wait. What?!?!? I can see your eyes bugging out. Wasn’t I leading you to believe that? Tricked ya!

Nope. It’s our son – or in your case, your son or daughter.

Confident kids bounce back after being beaten down…but only when they finally realize for themselves that they have value and worth. Sure, it helped that we gave praise, reminded him of past successes, and the fact that he got more ice time.  But it was really him that decided that he wasn’t going to be broken anymore.

Here are some traits of confident kids:

• They take risks.
• They use unsuccessful attempts (notice I didn’t say failures) as learning experiences.
• They work hard.
• They expect to do well, but don’t cave when the result turns out differently than what was expected.

We all “lose” our confidence at times. But really, it’s not lost. It’s there…we just have to remember that we are valuable and have worthiness.

What are some of the ways that you help boost your son’s or daughter’s confidence when they appeared to have lost theirs?