We are facing a bit of a struggle in our home right now. Most of our kids are of the age where they can help out with chores around the house and do some things. But they struggle with, and my boys especially so, doing their best.

They will do just enough to get the job done. For example, last week it was my son’s turn to vacuum the floors in the living areas. This entails picking up all the toys first, and pulling out the furniture to get behind and under it, and so on. He vacuumed around the stuff present on the floor, and called it finished.

He and I had to have a discussion about doing things with excellence.

The old cliche is true: If something is worth doing, it’s worth doing well.

The fact is, we are called to do our best and pursue excellence in everything we do.

Now, before you get in an uproar over that statement, I want you to read it again. We are called to give our best and pursue excellence in all that we do.

But we are not called to be perfect.

I want my kids to be known for doing their best no matter what they are doing. I want my kids to become adults who are dependable and do things well. I want my kids to be able to live confidently, knowing that they did the best they could.

There are too many instances from my own life, where I can look back and see that I didn’t do the best I could in the situation. I regret those times, and wish I had made different choices. But that’s not possible.

What is possible, though, is to instill a pursuit of excellence in the lives of my children so that they won’t look back with regret at things that they should have done better. What is possible is to teach excellence, model excellence, and encourage excellence.

Teach Excellence

One of the easiest ways to help our kids learn to pursue excellence is to teach it to them. Last week, when my son and I talked about it, I explained to him why I needed him to give his best. Doing this helps our kids to understand the why behind it.

Model Excellence

A couple of weeks ago, my wife and I switched vehicles. We bought a new van to replace my car, and our older van is wearing out too. So we switched things around so my wife is driving the better of the two vehicles that we own (which are both Dodge Grand Caravans! Crazy!) Since we had to empty both vehicles and swap them, we took the opportunity to pull all the seats and deep clean both vehicles. My kids watched me work hard, doing my best to clean every last spot of those vehicles. My daughter even asked my why I concentrated on getting the dust out of the speaker grill covers, giving me another teaching moment. But the whole adventure was a modeling moment, and my kids did a great job of helping me out.

Encourage Excellence

When my kids do a great job, like on the vans, I make sure that they know that I saw, and appreciate their effort. Praising their work increases the likelihood of it happening more consistently. Even though sometimes I have to discipline the wrong behavior, it seems that encouraging the positive behavior is much more effective.

Encouraging your kids to pursue excellence is one of the easiest ways to be a positive influence in their lives. It builds their self esteem, their work ethic, their confidence, and more. And they see that you love them.

Make sure you encourage your kids to strive for their best, no matter what they do.

Be deliberate, Dad!

What do you do to encourage your kids to pursue excellence? You can leave your thoughts in the comments by clicking here.