Want to Raise Successful Kids? Science Says These 5 Habits Matter, Bigtime

Teaching kids to say "please" when they ask for something can reinforce their tendency to be polite, which makes them more persuasive when they're older. Teaching them to say "thank you" habitually encourages gratitude, which stimulates happiness and makes stress easier to deal with.

And teaching them to say "you're welcome" reinforces confidence by emphasizing that the things they do for others are worthy of thanks. (This is especially true when you juxtapose "you're welcome" with other things people say in response to "thank you," like "no worries!" or "no problem!")

Children who develop emotional intelligence also develop a higher chance of graduating, getting a good job, and just being happy.

There are many things you can do to develop emotional intelligence, but at the outset, model your good thinking and use of emotions for them, ask them for their ideas, and try not to judge.

Oh, and remember that kids are just that: kids. It's unfair often to expect them to react and respond to things like adults would (or at least, should!).

Wait, what? Tell them to play video games?

Yes, indeed. A new study out of Europe that used a "massive" amount of data determined that kids who spend an above-average amount of time playing them wind up with higher IQs than kids who spend their screen time watching videos or scrolling through social media.

Kids today spent a massive amount of time glued to screens, on average. This study of 5,000 children at least suggests that if they're going to be using screens that much, the higher the percentage of that time they spend on video games, the better.

Passion is predictive of whether kids are successful; while mindset and grit might help young people to continue attempting to succeed, it was passion that best predicted whether they actually would.

So, when kids are kids, let them explore different things to determine the ones that they're truly passionate about. That's where they're most likely to become the absolute best in their field.

“The path of development is a journey of discovery that is clear only in retrospect, and it’s rarely a straight line.”

-Eileen Kennedy-Moore