PROSPECTIVE PERSONALITY

Last week we read there is no gene for criminal behaviour. Crime is learned, just like every other learned and observed behavior. And since baby Gabbar Singh learned from observation, what if he were put in an environment filled with love, compassion, trust, and kindness, what would have been the result of his upbringing?

Let us dwell deeper, by first understanding what are these environmental factors that impact the development of a child. It usually fits into many categories, but we will focus on 3 categories:

• Physical environment, the child’s home, the family, the bonding, the affection, neighborhood, the state.
• Emotional environment, which is how well families meet the child’s relational needs at home, the conversations, the emotional moments they share with their family and/or friends.
• Social environment, which is the child’s relationships, friendships with other children and people

Let us go step by step

One of the most important influencing factors on a child’s development is Us, ‘the child’s Family’. Irrespective of who is a child’s primary caregiver, the bonding ‘We’ provide at home helps nurture and protect our children both physically and emotionally.

BUILDING ENVIRONMENT

THE NEXT EDITION REVEALS MORE

99% SAME AND 1% DIFFERENT

Well, last week, I initiated the Nature-Nurture angle to understanding who we are, shall we drill a little further to see where it leads us? John Watson, the founder of Behaviourism, said that if we gave him a dozen healthy babies, he could take any one of them at random and train him or her to become any type of person—that he could mould people’s interests, motivations, emotions, abilities, and traits into whatever he chose. The idea that people are born more or less as a blank slate, and gain their personalities through experience and learning, from the environment dominated the early studies, but fizzled out soon…Wondering why?

far, more than 99% of every person’s genes are identical to those of every other person and us also share about 97% of our genes with Orangutans, but that 1% of our genes are the genes that make each of us look and act differently from other people. Those genes underlie differences in people’s personalities, our characteristics, our traits, our experiences, our practices and that is where the story of Character Development begins!

THE NEXT EDITION REVEALS MORE

CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT IN THE 21st Century

Let us first understand the meaning of Character. For the sake of convenience, I will take each definition separately and then link it later. So, according to Dictionary.com, a Character is defined as “a person in a novel, play, or film.

There is a saying “A high IQ can get you a job, but a high EQ will
keep you on the Job.” Coursera presented the Top 10 in-focus
skills in the World Economic Forum in 2020, they also presented
the Top 10 in-focus skills in the year 2019. Of the top 10, four of
the 10 in-focus skills in 2020 are Kindness, Gratitude, Meditation,
Mindfulness and this has changed in a span of year, which brings
us to a very important question, “Do we need to re-look at the
skills we are teaching our children?”

characteristics we are looking for in our children, our students or even our staff?

A Thought to Ponder On!

‘Character’ is also defined as “the mental and moral qualities distinctive to an individual.” It’s funny how both things go hand in hand when we socialize with people. At most times, we wear an actor’s mask, and yet hope to come across as distinct and unique, at other times, we choose to be someone else because we feel, that is more accepted than “being me”.

THE NEXT EDITION REVEALS MORE

CORE VALUES AND SKILLS

Building a new ENVIRONMENT takes time, takes practice, patience, and requires Grit! But we will discuss Grit another time.
This week let us focus on a few Core Values that you want to instill in your children and your family, which will, in turn, help you build the value-based environment you need.
Here is a Value-based assessment that you can take along with your spouse / other caregivers to find a common ground.

India has a very rich culture, but Indians adopt a ‘do-it-my-own-way’ approach to nurturing this culture and life in general, which is misinterpreted as “power” or “aggression” as a solution. I know you need proof, please watch the news on the TV. The prime time hour on most Indian news channels these days always debate crimes, or hypocrisy, deceit, violence, and all the gruesomeness that exists, as opposed to Compassion, Kindness, Ethics and Humility teach life and goodness. Let me ask, “Is there a movie that can be made without an act of aggression or violence in it, including comedy movies, and if there is, would we enjoy it as much as a movie with a hint of violence and manipulation?”

This brings me back to Gabbar Singh, and why we as an audience chose him as the number ONE favorite Bollywood Character Let us Choose wisely, before it is too Late!

THE NEXT EDITION REVEALS MORE