Parenting 101
How to Raise Kids with Solid Character, Strong Minds, and Caring Hearts

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Why Our Kids Need the 8 Skills of Success
The Facts About Success by Dr. Michele Borba

• Successful kids aren’t born successful: they’ve learned how to be succeed. There are eight skills most highly correlated to success and all can be taught. (Introduction)
• It’s never too late-or too early-to help children learn the skills of success. (Introduction)
• Well-liked children consistently use the nonverbal skills of eye contact and smiling. (Chapter 3)
• Except for breathing, we listen more than any other single activity, yet it is one of our most underdeveloped success traits. (Chapter 3)
• One of the most important skills needed for success in school is learning to sort out from everything heard the most important ideas and to remember them. (Chapter 3).
• Children in the United States rank number one in the world for the percentage of thirteen-year-olds who watch five or more hours of TV every day. (Chapter 3)
• In 1930 children spent three to four hours a day personally involved with members of their extended families. Today’s typical family interactions are cut to only a few minutes a day. (Chapter 3)
• A 1998 study by the Centers for disease Control and Prevention found that one in five teenagers in our country carries a weapon and one in ten has attempted suicide. (Chapter 4)
• Children skilled in problem solving are less likely to be impulsive when things didn’t go their way, tended to be more caring, were better able to make friends, and tended to achieve more academically. Studies confirm that learning problem-solving skills greatly enhances our children’s chances for success. (Chapter 4)
• Statistics tell us children in the United States today are living in a society that is substantially more violent than any other Western democracy. (Chapter 4)
• Studies find that children with chronic friendship difficulties are prone to have poor self-esteem and become low achievers. As adolescents they frequently have drug and alcohol problems and are more likely to drop out of school and be identified as juvenile delinquents. (Chapter 5)
• Children who experience social rejection are two to eight times more likely to drop out of high school and are at a much higher risk for using alcohol or drugs. (Chapter 5)
• A recent survey conducted by US News & World Report found that nine out of ten American s believed that the breakdown of common courtesy has become a serious problem in this country. (Chapter 5)
• The National Education Association estimates that 160,000 children miss school every day due to fear of attack or intimidation by other students. (Chapter 5).
• Help your child stay focused on the same goals for at least twenty-one days. Research says it generally takes at least three weeks for new skills or behaviors to be learned. (Chapter 6).
• Researchers have proved we can instill the trait of caring in our children through our own behavior, and our efforts can be long lasting. (Chapter 8)
• Negative, derogatory comments are on the rise. Studies tell us that kids from average families receive 432 negative statements as opposed to 32 positive acknowledgments daily. (Chapter 5)
• The most common discipline technique parents of highly considerate children use is reasoning with them about their uncaring behavior. Empathy can be nurtured. (Chapter 8)

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