Children are born with their own unique personality traits. Every child has different characteristics. Even between siblings who grew up in the same family, there can be huge differences in personality traits. Even siblings with identical twins show different characteristics from each other. We can say that the character, which tells the same things as a dictionary meaning and as a theoretical meaning, is the whole of all the differences between individuals and other individuals. What distinguishes a person from others is the characteristics of his character. All kinds of characteristics such as being quick to anger or being calm, smiling or melancholic, being introverted or extroverted can be grouped under the title of character. Character is actually used synonymously with the words personality, temperament, and temperament, and they all mean the same thing.the sum of all the characteristics that distinguish a person from others.
Considerations in Character Formation
We know that the character has a personality structure, and this structure is determined in general terms before he is born. Like many of the traits we have, our personality traits are determined by our genes. On top of that, some other features are added in the early childhood stages and an important part of the individual's character is completed around the age of 6-7, which is the early childhood period. The slogan '7 is too late', which has been used a lot in recent years, especially in terms of education, is very important in this respect and is used in a very correct sense. Indeed, 80% of both personality and cognitive characteristics of the individual are completed before the age of 7. Therefore, everything to be gained to a child should be evaluated between the ages of 0-6, which is defined as early childhood.Our characters, which are determined by our genes, are formed to a great extent until the age of 6-7 at the latest, and everything else is formed by what we see and learn from our family and environment.
Especially in the pre-school period, the most influential factor comes to the fore as the family first and then the school. These are the periods in which children's tendency to imitate attracts attention. At this age, the child learns many behaviors that he will identify with himself in the future by imitating others. The child begins to take important steps in the formation of personality by evaluating his own behaviors and the reactions corresponding to these behaviors. He tries to determine who he is in society, who is expected of him, which behaviors are accepted and which are rejected. During these stages, their own social acceptance values and tastes are formed. In fact, all these stages both affect and trigger each other in a chain.They directly have an important share in the personality of the child. Therefore, if we want a child with strong character, we have to be societies and families with solid foundations.
The Importance of Family in Character Formation
The family is the most fundamental factor in any child's development. In particular, when we observe families, we see some typical common attitudes:
• Overprotective Family Type: In a family where parents are overprotective and caring, dependent and insecure children grow up.
• Extreme Tolerance and Extreme Care: A child who receives an unconditional tolerance for all his right or wrong behaviors will be selfish and will try to attract everyone's attention in any environment and to attract all attention.
• Rejection: Sometimes a child is rejected by his family for a number of reasons. Their physical and psychological needs are either not met and ignored, or they encounter hostile behavior. Children who will be hostile towards everything and everyone in the future are brought up in such families.
• Suppression: By constantly criticizing everything that the child does or says, the child is warned and excluded. The child of such a family will grow up with a rebellious nature and an inferiority complex.
• Accepting Everything the Child Says: Children who grow up in such a family structure where the child has absolute dominance, try to establish superiority over other people around them over time.
• Comparison or Discrimination Among Children: Unfortunately, some families choose between children or compare them with each other. This type of behavior leads to feelings of inadequacy and inferiority in the child.
• Tolerance and Acceptance: As in everything else, tolerance without exaggeration and accepting the child means accepting him/her with all his/her characteristics. Of course, mistakes can still happen, but it is very important for the family to have a consistent and understanding attitude in determining the right direction. Self-confident, constructive, positive, and socially unproblematic children grow up in this type of family.
From these perspectives, it is seen that family is the main determinant in the formation of children's characters.
The Importance of School in Character Formation
The school is the most important educational home after the family and is the first door to the social environment for a child. Therefore, it is an important social institution that shapes the personality of the child. Here, too, the child will learn to cooperate, to obey rules and rules, to share, to produce, to be both an individual and to belong to the society as an individual, and will develop the skill of blending all these in his personality and will try to be himself.
Today, the most important purpose of education is to prepare the individual for adult roles and to help him/her develop self-management skills. This is only possible by giving the child the ability to think independently.
School period is also a grouping age for children. By joining a number of groups, the child both adopts or rejects their behavior and thoughts, and presents his own thoughts and behaviors to them. It seeks social approval. Every behavior accepted here will become clear as a personality trait and behavior of the child. School periods have an important impact on the child, as it is an educational institution that enables him to mature in many different areas such as friendship, sharing, and the search for identity.
Negative Character Traits
Character actually means our personality, and human personality does not consist of only good aspects. We also have an urge to aggression, which has been encoded even in our genes since the first evolution of the human species. This stems from an instinct to survive and cling to life that exists in every living species. It is natural in this aspect. However, along with civilization, we have learned to rasp this aggressive impulse. It is an action that we can achieve over time by highlighting some of our features and suppressing some of them.
Sometimes, a child's character traits may not be very positive, primarily due to the influence of genes from the family or some other factors that may occur later. For example, they may have introverted or extroverted aggressive features. Some children may be very talkative, while others may not like to talk. It is also possible to encounter a child who has a self-confidence problem with the influence of the family environment he grew up in, or to encounter a personality trait that invites all kinds of dangers blindly. It is not possible to change these if they are settled in a way we call a habit, with the influence of the genetic features we are born with. What we call character is the person himself.
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