The values a child carries privately — the choices they make when nobody is watching — are built deliberately, not inherited.
Character is not taught through instruction. It develops through repeated experience — the small choices a child makes, the values they see modelled consistently, and the connection between what a family says it stands for and how it actually behaves day to day.
Martin Seligman's research at the University of Pennsylvania identifies character strengths as among the most reliable predictors of flourishing in adulthood. The qualities that matter most — integrity, self-regulation, and the capacity for genuine connection — are not fixed at birth. They are developed through intentional practice.
Seligman (2011), Berkowitz & Bier (2005)
Marvin Berkowitz at the University of Missouri identifies the family as the single most powerful institution for character development — more powerful than school, more powerful than peers, more powerful than any external programme. A family that has named what it stands for, and returns to that standard consistently, is building something that will outlast childhood.
Berkowitz & Bier (2005), Kohlberg (1981)
"The family is the single most powerful institution for character development. What happens in the home determines the character of the adult — more than school, more than peers, more than any programme."
What this means for your child
Character is built through practice, not instruction. A family that has named its values — and returns to them consistently — is doing something that no school curriculum can replicate. The Design Profile measures how clearly those values are present in your child's everyday choices.