TeachingKidsBusiness.com Attitude

Attitude is key to your success. This section helps you to understand attitude and provides you with activities to practice developing "good" attitude.

A definition for attitude is; a manner of acting, feeling, or thinking that shows one's disposition, opinion etc. It's really how you respond to and approach things.

Of all the skills you develop, an attitude will take you the furthest. We have all heard about or have seen someone with a "bad attitude" and we know how it really stands out. A bad attitude doesn't take people very far in life. The trick is to really work on the right things to develop a "good attitude". Over time, you will find out that a bad attitude can be cool to some people, but it is really the good attitude that will rule!

If we look back at the definition of attitude and look at the words of feeling and opinion, we quickly realize that kids have different feelings and opinions on things and therefore, different attitudes. So it becomes a little unclear on the right or good attitude and the wrong or bad attitude.

It is ok to have different feelings and opinions on things. Just because you disagree on something, doesn't mean you have a bad attitude. It is the way you communicate or show your feelings and opinions that determines your attitude. If you disagree and argue in a disrespectful way, or don't listen to other opinions, then you have bad attitude.

Most people will agree that a "positive attitude" is a good attitude. The world is a much better place when we look at things and respond to things in a positive way. This is not to say that things should not be looked at critically. If you look at the "Put Your Thinking Hat On", you will realize that there are times when you should be critical (Black Hat). A little bad attitude is ok, but let's try for good attitude most of the time. You will find out that you can actually respond to things in several ways (good or bad) and that the way you respond effects how people respond back to you.

Here is an excellent anecdote that may help you understand how your attitude can effect how well you do things:

"If I believe I cannot do something, it makes me incapable of doing it. But when I believe I can, then I acquire the ability to do it, even if I did not have the ability in the beginning."

Mahatma Gandhi

I think you will agree that a good attitude towards yourself is believing in yourself. Once you believe in yourself you will respond to things a lot differently and in a way that gets better results.

Here is another example of having a good attitude:

"Don't find fault, find a remedy."

Henry Ford (Founder of Ford Motor Company)

In this example, the attempt to find a remedy is a good attitude to a situation. People that always find fault in things would normally be considered to have a bad attitude. Therefore, people who have a solution to a problem, would be considered to have a good attitude.

1.	Here is an activity for mealtime at home. We have all had something put in front of us at meal time that is new and we think we don't like it. Try this the next time it happens. Instead of saying "Yuck, what is that?" or "I won't try that!" or "I don't like that!", try another approach. For example; "Thank you for something different. I don't know that I am going to like it, but I'll try it." Now after you have tried it, if you really don't like it, you will have more success with saying that you don't and that you would really appreciate something else. Think of other situations where using your "good attitude" may help you through a situation around the house.
2.	Check out the "Anecdotes" section and find some phrases that show you a good attitude.
3.	Try the "Put Your Thinking Hat On" activities with attitude in mind.
4.	The next time you notice "bad attitude", think about how they/you could have responded differently.
5.	Have some fun with thinking of "bad attitude" and "good attitude" approaches to things that come up every day.
6.	In the book Tom Sawyer, the author, Mark Twain showed how Tom made the job of white washing (painting) a fence look like so much fun that he got others boys to pay him to let them do some of the work. The other boys did actually have fun. Can you think of opportunities like this?

Congratulations from TeachingKidsBusiness.com! You have taken another big step in developing your business skills and career preparation. You will find this to be a very helpful skill, as you use it daily. Don't stop here!

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