Strengths Based Parenting

Let’s jump into a followup to a personal Short Story I shared last month on the Clifton Strengths assessment by Gallup. This time I want to take a few moments to dive into Strengths Based Parenting.

If you’re a parent then you can attest to every child or every human on the plant being uniquely diverse and gifted. Valuing these differences and even going a step further to embrace and understand the ways that we’re all not alike is a mindset that will serve us well in our families, workplaces, and communities.

“Our future doesn’t depend on everybody being the same; it depends on each person sharing her talents, her blessings, her beliefs and her passions” ~ Strength Based Parenting).

I am a proud momma of two amazing kiddos, a sixteen year old named Caden and my eleven year old daughter, Aliya. The minute they came into this world they were drastically different. Caden was colicky and dealt with acid reflux, poor guy, and had to be bounced exactly right to be at peace. On the other hand, my daughter was the exact opposite. Completely chill, content being in her carseat, happy in the car and helped me realized that it wasn’t my lack of parenting skills that produced a crying, unhappy newborn in Caden…they both had different DNA.

As these two have grown and stepped into the world of pre-teen and teenager, it’s been incredible watching their personalities and talents blossom. One of my beliefs, also foundational to the mission of Clifton Strengths, is that we do our best when we’re living in our lane. Meaning, we do our best when we’re doing what we’re best at!

*However, beliefs are only rehearsed statements if we don’t make them actionable.* If the little adults I’m raising will thrive the most understanding what they “can” do and who they “can” be fully, then it’s my job to help them step into a place of understanding themselves better. This is where the Clifton Strengths Assessment comes in.

One of the most exciting parenting moments of the past year has been watching my kids faces when they each read their strengths reveal. They were both fighting back smiles and some emotion! Why? Because it’s liberating to discover who you are created to be and the assessment results were incredibly confirming of their individual strengths.

Caden’s Top Five //
Positivity
Consistency
Futuristic
Responsibility
Competition

Aliya’s Top Three // (She took the Clifton Strengths Explorer Assessment intended for kids under 14)
Caring
Dependability
Competition

A conversation for another time is the whole nurture versus nature perspective. The short of it, is I believe both come into play and affect the trajectory of who we become as adults. I won’t take the credit for the awesome work God did creating these two fantastic humans, but it does not surprise me that Caden and Aliya both have “responsible” and “competitive” strengths. I mean, have you met Josh and I? (insert laugh!)

Now that we all know our strengths, it’s opening up new opportunities for dialogue around respecting individuality in our family conversations and also creating space for helpful conversations. For example, my daughter loves to debate or argue which is completely supported by the competition strength. She is probably a great candidate for stepping into law and serving social justice to people who need it. Or she could use this gift as more of a hobby and get involved with the debate team at school. Once you know your strengths, there are endless possibilities to tap into.

Go visit [The Gallup Access Platform: Transform the Workplace - Gallup](https://www.gallup.com/access/) to help you or the little humans you’re raising step into who they were meant to be. It’s worth the small investment!

Thank you for reading friend! If you’d like more of these short stories then let me know!