Examples of Character Traits - Inspiring Traits to Empower Your Children
Here are some examples of character traits that describe in detail each trait as well as giving examples of people who exhibit each trait.
The list will include character traits of extraordinary leaders as well as traits of successful people.
Let's begin by reviewing what is character education and a list of character traits before we jump into our study of character traits.
I've chosen the following examples of character traits from the list of character traits I gave you the link for. Each of the traits chosen has other words that are similar in meaning, so I list them in the description.
The traits have been chosen because I feel they are the most important ones for kids to grasp at a young age.
Obviously, you'll find ones I've left out that you feel are the most important examples of character traits for children.
That's great! I'm here to offer you Inspiration Empowering Children.
I find the meanings for each character education traits at the online Dictionary.
Here are the examples of character traits that are important as we teach...
to our children.
- Brave,
- Compassionate,
- Dependable,
- Honest, and
- Spiritual.
- Brave means the following:
- possessing or exhibiting courage or courageous endurance.
- a brave person.
- a warrior, esp. among North American Indian tribes.
- to meet or face courageously: to brave misfortunes.
- to defy; challenge; dare.
Brave Companions: Portraits in History (Hardcover) by David McCullough describes many people throughout history he considers to be brave, possessing examples of character traits worth following.
He includes Antoine de Saint-Exupery, a pioneering airplane pilot as well as an author.
Here's a link to Wikipedia and a brief history of Antoine de Saint-Exupery, who flew planes when there were few controls.
He is also the author of one of the most inspiring childrens books ever written (from my perspective), The Little Prince.
A brave person faces life head and heart on, trusting her guts and following her dreams in the face of other people's negative opinions.
For a person to be brave, she must learn to trust herself more than she trusts others.
Brave people take risks, while others think think about them or are too fearful to try something new.
Life is constantly changing before our eyes. When a person is brave, she accepts the changes as part of our Creator's plan, and does her best at being adaptable.
- Compassionate is the second trait in our list of examples of character traits that empower and has the following meaning:
- a feeling of deep sympathy and sorrow for another who is stricken by misfortune, accompanied by a strong desire to alleviate the suffering.
Mother Teresa, often considered a saint, is an example of a compassionate, kind, caring person who helped poor people in India. She had complete faith and trust in her Creator that her own personal needs would be cared for.
She won the Nobel Peace Prize and was noted for her humanitarian efforts. Humanitarian people by nature must be compassionate.
- Dependable is the next character trait we examine. It means
- capable of being depended on; worthy of trust; reliable: a dependable employee.
- Synonyms (words that mean the same thing) are trustworthy, trusty, trusted, steadfast, faithful, responsible.
One of my mother's friends is never dependable. They were going to the theater recently, and her friend scheduled a hair appointment an hour before she was to be picked up.
Mom's friend was not being considerate of her friends, and was not at all dependable. They arrived late for the show.
- Honest has the following meanings:
- honorable in principles, intentions, and actions; upright and fair: an honest person.
- showing uprightness and fairness: honest dealings.
- gained or obtained fairly: honest wealth.
- sincere; frank: an honest face.
- genuine or unadulterated: honest commodities.
- respectable; having a good reputation: an honest name.
- truthful or creditable: honest weights.
- humble, plain, or unadorned.
I discovered a man named Thomas More, written about by John McCain in his book Character is Destiny. Thomas More was an honest man who lost his live when he told the truth to the King of England.
We build our character and develop a reputation by our personal actions. I discussed on teaching character traits that in my childhood, I was not honest, and it humbled me to the core of my being when I awoke to that fact.
As I've discovered, my character reflects my values, and my actions determine who I am and how people look at me.
Fortunately, I've been honest for more than 25 years in business and personal relationships, and have many friends who respect me for it.
- Spiritual is one of the key elements when talking about examples of character traits and has many meanings:
As an adjective it means:
- of, pertaining to, or consisting of spirit; incorporeal.
- of or pertaining to the spirit or soul, as distinguished from the physical nature: a spiritual approach to life.
- closely akin in interests, attitude, outlook, etc.: the professor's spiritual heir in linguistics.
- of or pertaining to spirits or to spiritualists; supernatural or spiritualistic.
- characterized by or suggesting predominance of the spirit; ethereal or delicately refined: She is more of a spiritual type than her rowdy brother.
- of or pertaining to the spirit as the seat of the moral or religious nature.
- of or pertaining to sacred things or matters; religious; devotional; sacred.
- of or belonging to the church; ecclesiastical: lords
- of or relating to the mind or intellect.
As a noun it means:
- a spiritual or religious song: authentic folk spirituals.
- spirituals, affairs of the church.
- a spiritual thing or matter.
Why is spiritual so important in examples of character traits?
Because each human being is made of body, mind and spirit. When we pay more attention to body and mind and neglect our spiritual aspects of life, we become unbalanced.
Without considering our spiritual side, we cannot function as healthy, happy humanoids.
Whatever spiritual path or outlook you may choose is crucial for your well-being.
A friend of mine once conducted a major study for why public schools were failing in northern California. Her findings indicated it was a lack of spiritual awareness in the schools that were undermining the schools.
Examples of Character Traits from Books and Movies
I recently saw what most would consider an average movie on TV. Invincible (2006) "Starring Mark Wahlberg, Greg Kinnear, Elizabeth Banks was based on the true story of Vince Papale, inspired by the 2002 NFL Films ESPN feature on his football achievement."
Vince Papale had a life long dream of playing football for the Philadelphia Eagles. After 5 years of marriage, his wife unexpectedly left him and stole everything from their apartment.
When the Eagles hired a new coach, he announced the Eagles were holding local tryouts for anyone who thought they could make the team.
All of Vince's buddies encouraged him to try out, as did his father and brother. Vince was reluctant, but finally, decided to give it a try.
To make a long story short, Vince was the only one who was accepted into training camp against great odds. He wasn't accepted by the Eagles players, in fact was shunned.
However, he demonstrated persistent perseverance, courage, and endurance and finally had his big shot on opening day on a special unit team.
In case you decide to see the movie, I won't tell you what happened. However, Vince's story is one of the great examples of character traits. It showed what is possible when you want something badly enough.
Thidwick, The Big-Hearted Moose by Dr. Seuss demonstrates caring, another of our character traits.
Thidwick carries a small bug on his horns, and before Thidwock knows it, a whole group of animals and insects have turned his horns into their homes.
Thidwick's life is endangered by carrying so much weight around, as he is easy prey to hunters. Read this rhyming verse to see how Dr. Seuss uses a few examples of character traits in this story.
Here's more on Character Education Lessons.
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