Do you remember what a “gandy dancer” is? Way back in the first post of this series we mentioned that “gandy dancer” was the nickname that was given to early railroad workers who laid and maintained the tracks. Parents are gandy dancers. It is the parent’s business to lay down and maintain the rails of […]

One of the best gifts you can give your child is to help him become a person of excellent character. That is what habit-training can do: mold a child’s character. “ ‘Sow a habit, reap a character’; that is, the formation of habits is one of the chief means whereby we modify the original hereditary […]

The good habits you instill in your child’s life are an endowment. There is a subtle difference between an endowment and an investment. Habit-training yourself is an investment with a large return. An investment is something you usually do for yourself; you put in the capital. (more…)

All of the things we have discussed over the past few weeks on habit-training—taking on the effort of decision, spotlighting the trigger, and adjusting the consequences—are ways to help support your child’s Will. Habit-training yourself depends on a strong Will that can make the right choices even when it’s hard. You have to decide which […]

Habits have consequences. It is a fact of life that we witness every day. If you have a habit of doing the laundry regularly, you will have clean clothes to wear. If you have a habit of saving money from every paycheck, you will acquire a buffer for unexpected or future purchases. (more…)

We talked last time about the importance of having a trigger that will prompt you to do the desired habit every time. Adults usually have to come up with triggers for themselves, but parents can help their children by spotlighting triggers for them. The trick is to not become your child’s trigger. (more…)

Whether you are instilling a new habit in your own life or in your child’s life, you need to make the initial decisions about which habit you want to work on, what it will look like, whether you need to break it down into smaller more manageable stops along the way, when you are going […]

As we discussed last week, in many ways your job of cultivating good habits in your child is just like cultivating them in your own life. Most of the principles and practical steps are similar. But there are also some differences between laying down the rails in your child’s life and laying them down for […]

Have you ever heard of a gandy dancer? I just discovered that term and am enjoying the whimsy and rhythm of it. It’s the nickname that was given to early railroad workers who laid and maintained railroad tracks in the years before the work was done by machines. (more…)