The 7 Habits of Happy Kids

The 7 Habits of Happy Kids
By Sean Covey

Have you heard your child coming home and telling his or her sibling to be more proactive, begin with the end in mind, or put first things first? Well, there is a good reason for this! We, at 4-corners, are teaching our students powerful principles that will enrich their lives and make them happy by being more successful. These principles are responsibility, vision, respect, teamwork, and balance. Each week, we read a chapter from Sean Covey’s picture book, The 7 Habits of Happy Kids, and we teach a “habit”. We practice this “habit” throughout the week at school and at home. So far we have taught the students the first three habits. The first habit is Be Proactive which means You’re in Charge. The first chapter title is Bored! Bored! Bored! Our students learned that they need to take charge of their own life and stop playing the victim. They learned that they are in charge of their own fun and that they can make it happen just like the character Sammy Squirrel did when he took responsibility for his boredom and found something productive to do. He made a get-well present for his friend, Allie, who was home sick in bed. Sammy learned that he is in charge of his own choices. The second habit we learned is Begin with the End in Mind which means to Have a Plan. This chapter title is Goob and the Bug-Collecting Kit. We learned that if we have a written plan of goals like Goob did, we can work for something that we want to buy like his bug-collecting kit. He not only earned the money ($10.00) by selling lemonade, but he was able to buy his $4.00 bug-collecting kit, a $2.00 mirror for Tagalong Allie’s birthday present, a slice of honey pizza for $1.00, go to the movies for $1.00, take his friend Jumper to the movies for $1.00 (who had previously spent all of his money on junk), and still have $1.00 left to put in his savings bank. Our students have written a school goal that they want to accomplish in 3rd grade. They wrote down their goal, their time frame for meeting their goal, taking their first step, and the steps they need to work towards their goal. We learned that “A goal not written is only a wish.” Our third habit is Put First Things First which means Work First, Then Play. In reading the third chapter, titled Pokey and the Spelling Test, we learned Pokey needed to study a little bit each night to do well on his spelling test, instead of putting off his studying night after night by playing with different friends. He learned to delay gratification and do the hard thing first. Procrastination made him feel awful, but being prepared made him feel great. Our students have been given a survey of what activities they do. They have also been given a time management sheet where they will document their time spent on their daily activities for one whole day. They are learning the meaning of what a wise person once said, “Do what you have to do, so you can do what you want to do.”
*Stay tuned in to more lessons on what your child is learning in The 7 Habits of Happy Kids! Please leave us a comment on your thoughts of these lessons.