Choose To Enthuse: How to help your children remain enthusiastic

There are two kinds of people in the world.  

Those who allow their environments to influence their enthusiasm; and those who allow their enthusiasm to influence their environment.  

Enthusiasm is a fascinating virtue or spirit that is difficult to explain but easy to see in others.  Why is having a spirit of enthusiasm toward the school year important?  Because we will either let our environment and circumstances influence our enthusiasm or let our enthusiasm influence our environment.  Either way, your kids will take their "Q" from you!  

There are three things that cause what I call "enthusiasm spasms" in your life, home, school, work, relationships, or wherever you occupy space. 

The first is worry.

Worry is an intense concern about something that may or may not happen.  Studies show that most of the stuff we worry about never even happen. So, why spend unnecessary energy worrying about stuff that will probably never happen? Worry is like acid. It will eat your enthusiasm alive and cause serious enthusiasm spasms in your life! 

The next thing that can cause an "enthusiasm spasm" is stress.

I define stress as worry on steroids.  It’s an intense strain about something that seems out of control in our lives.  The Latin root word for “anxious” means “to choke, to strangle, to pull in different directions.”  Anxiety and stress have the potential to “choke” the enthusiasm right out of you and your kids.  Stress, which often follows intense and prolonged worry, can cause another enthusiasm spasm... fear.

The three greatest fears we have in life are death, loneliness, and failure.  The truth is we all deal with fear on a daily basis. The issue is how we choose to deal with it.  If we’re not careful, we can allow fear to control our lives.   

What is the antidote to the enthusiasm spasms of worry, stress, and fear?  It's trust. 

Helping our kids trust the systems, policies, safety protocols, teachers, and administrators that they are doing their best to ensure your school experience is safe and positive.  Will it be perfect? No! Can it be positive? Yes! It depends on our perspective and the choice to remain enthusiastic and optimistic.  

Below are two ways to help your kids remain enthusiastic and optimistic in light of the challenging circumstances this school year.  

1. Be intentional

Set the tone, remember, enthusiasm is a choice.  Rather than allowing your kids to focus on the problems, help them focus on the possibilities that can come from this school year.  As challenging it will be at times, we have to choose to enthuse.

2. Be inspirational

Like us, our kids are going to face discouragement from difficulties and disappointments that will come.  Not only will they need encouragement from you, but they also need to be inspired to push through the hardships and challenges that will come their way.  You can affirm them by writing them notes, speaking words of encouragement, and lending support to help them keep going and keep their enthusiasm high.

Parents, whenever we can, let's choose to enthuse this school year! 

To learn more about building enthusiasm in your kids, follow the The Winning Family Podcast. We have an entire episode covering this topic along with many more episodes to help parents and couples win at home and life!