The 20/80 Rule of Life

"Do as I say!"

I think we're all agreed that this is not a good adult suggestion to guiding or teaching children.

In fact saying nothing and showing through actions is probably the best way to teach children some of life's lessons.

It was brought home to me during a recent interview on the 40 Developmental Assets, that when surveyed 80% of children/teens said that they learned about important values from watching the behaviours of adults—parents, teachers, relatives,etc. The remaining 20% felt the they did learn from the "Do as I say!" method of teaching.

It all comes back to mentoring and modelling of behaviours. It is important to have adult role models in our children's lives to teach them those positive values. Parents are most often the primary role models in a child's life.

My radio discussion with Keith Pattinson, who presents workshops on the 40 Developmental Assets, really brought home the need for we, as parents, to discuss these 40 assets with our children and find ways to help create these important building blocks of life.

Also remember it's not a test—it's a starting point.