Wellbeing strengths in adolescents

What's your biggest achievement? What did you do to make it happen?

What's your biggest achievement? What did you do to make it happen? Our achievements are all about growing what we do best. It’s about mixing what we love with what comes naturally. What’s that thing you do well and easily? Maybe it’s painting, dancing, managing the household, keeping track of family activities or crunching numbers.

There’s a parable called “Soar with your strengths” by Donald Clifton and Paula Nelson, from 1992. It talks about how education has focused on fixing what children struggle with. When you were at school, teachers would check what needed improvement and work on those areas. But what if we flipped the script? What if you could tackle anything tough by using what you do best, whatever that is?

Strengths help us build life skills. They’re the qualities we all have, and if we recognise them, we can use them to our advantage in any situation.

How do you spot your strengths and your child’s? Watch what grabs your child’s attention on a regular day. What do they play? How do they act when they play? If you see them focused and having fun, that’s a clue to their strengths. You can also take an online test at the VIA Institute on Character (https://www.viacharacter.org/) to answer a few questions and find out your top strengths.

The strengths we’re talking about were developed by Martin Seligman, the father of positive psychology. These strengths are grouped by universal virtues – moral qualities that people can develop or use all the time to do the right thing, make good choices and stay true to their values.

Read through the list of strengths again and think about which ones you’ve developed most, based on how you act or who you are. Mark them. Then, think about which strengths your child might have developed more. It’s important to know that we all have every strength, but not all of us have them equally developed. When you take the VIA Institute test, focus on your top ten. Don’t worry about the ones that are less developed – you can work on those if you want, but the idea is to use what comes naturally and helps you feel good.

What do you do with your strengths? Strengths help us feel good about ourselves, remind us we have superpowers ready to use. Use your strengths to be authentic, positive and happier. Share your strengths, put them to work for others – you can help someone by using one of your strengths. Using one strength doesn’t overshadow the rest. Strengths are visible, they include character traits and don’t define you. They’re there for you to use to solve problems or grow as a person.

With us, your child grows what they do best in class. We make sure every activity helps them build wellbeing, so they can see their qualities, get to know themselves through what they do at school, with others and on their own. It’s important to us that they feel safe, so their strengths can shine when needed. That’s why one of the pillars of their education is guidance for their future. We help them explore their strengths with real experiences and skills, all to prepare them for the years ahead.