Dr. Scott Turansky

Dr. Scott Turansky offers moms practical, real-life advice for many of parenting’s greatest challenges. read bio

Character Training – A Systematic Approach

By Dr. Scott Turansky and Joanne Miller, RN, BSN

How can you, as a parent, help your children to develop character, such as patience, joy, love, gentleness, and self-control? As family coaches, we meet with discouraged parents each week. Many of them experience tough child-related problems that require a God-centered character-development plan. You can't create this type of plan in the heat of a discipline problem. Rather, this plan requires you to step back, identify each child's strengths and weaknesses, and devise a systematic approach to changing difficult patterns by moving each child toward developing positive character qualities. You can help your children to make lifestyle changes, develop good habits, and build depth of character. Negative patterns in your children are often a result of a root cause or character-quality deficiency.

As you begin to address character issues in your children, it's helpful to approach them from the perspective of a "parenting doctor." Just as doctors follow specific plans when addressing problems, you can follow a similar six-step plan to identify, analyze, and strategize for positive behavioral change and character development in each child.

Step 1: Observation – Recognize the Problem

Step 2: Diagnosis – Name the Character Weakness

Step 3: Solution – Name and Define Each Solution

Step 4: Treatment – Provide Instructions for Working on the Solution

Step 5: Motivation – Inspire Change

Step 6: Follow-up – Continue to Work on Solutions

Three Factors to Remember

Excerpt from Eight Tools for Effective Parenting by Dr. Scott Turansky and Joanne Miller, RN, BSN. Used with permission.