How to help your kids find a purpose? You don't have to start with the really big questions. Quick, what's the meaning of life? Many of us may not be able to answer that, but that doesn't 1 our kids don't have questions or need answers.
"The sense that your personal life is 2 to you is a basis of psychological well-being," says Michael F. Steger, director of the laboratory for Meaning and Quality of Life at Colorado State University. Not only that, it is tightly tied to being happier, more positive, more 3, more caring, more helpful, more resilient (有弹性的), and more satisfied in your life, relationships, and work.
"But helping your kids find meaning doesn't mean parents have to 4 all life's ancient mysteries," Steger says. The 5 is to understand the difference between the meaning of life and the meaning in life.
"We do not have to start with the biggest and most troubling questions about our lives," Steger says. "We can start with trying to 6 how, today, right now, we are going to do one thing that makes the story of our lives more positive, or makes a positive difference to someone else. "
With kids in 7 school, Steger says, "At the most basic level, our best hopes for our children are that they feel their lives matter and that they 8." To start conversations along those lines, says Steger, "You can ask questions about what they think their best 9 or strengths are, whether they have good relationships with other people, whether they care about others. You can ask them about times when they have made a difference, made someone feel better, felt 10 for doing something, or helped someone out. All of these kinds of questions can start a conversation about your kid's 11 way of being in and contributing to the world. "
In middle school, says Steger, "Kids are being exposed to ideas, behaviors, assumptions, and priorities that might be 12 different from the ones they have always assumed were true." So for kids of this age, parents can start conversations focusing on how your children's sense of who they are, how they related to others and what life is has been 13.
By high school, according to Steger, "We hope our children see how much their lives matter, see that they are at the beginning of an exciting and strengthening life story, and have some slight ideas about 14. "But the question of what you want to do with your life is too big for a single conversation, says Steger. Instead, he encourages parents to have 15, smaller conversations with their kids about how they view themselves and their lives, and what kind of impact they would like to make.
