Sample TOEFL Essay – What Value to Teach Children

The Question

If parents want their children to succeed in the future, which of the following things should they teach them?

• How to be honest
• How to be helpful
• How to be patient

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The Sample Essay

It is critically important that we raise our children properly.  Personally, I think it is very helpful to teach our children to be patient.  I feel this way for two main reasons, which I will explore in the following essay.

To begin with, patient children are more likely to overcome struggles at school. A student who is patient will not give up when they face academic challenges, and therefore they will learn a lot in all of their classes. My personal experience is an illustration of this concept. When I was in third grade, I had a lot of problems in my mathematics class.  In particular, I just couldn’t figure out how to do long division correctly. At first, I wanted to give up and just quit doing my homework assignments.  However, my mother encouraged me to be patient and try each question again and again until I found the correct answer.  It took a long time, and I made a lot of mistakes, but thanks to my mom’s lesson I didn’t expect to get the answers quickly.  This patient approach worked extremely well, and eventually I was able to master third grade math.  If my mother had not emphasized the value of patience I still wouldn’t know how to do long division.

Moreover, children who are patient can develop financial skills at an early age. Most youngsters are given an allowance by their parents nowadays, but patience is required in order to save enough money to purchase expensive things they really want.  Being diligent when it comes to money will teach children the value of saving and the importance of thriftiness.  For instance, when we were kids my brother and I were both given ten dollars per week by our parents.  Most weeks I just wasted that money on candy and comic books.  My brother, on the other hand, wanted to get an expensive video game console so he spent nothing and just put his allowance into a bank account every week.  After one year his patience had paid off, and he had enough money to buy the system.  More importantly, he learned about the value of not giving into his immediate desires and how money can grow in time if we have the willpower to wait.  On the other hand, I learned nothing and am still struggling to make correct financial decisions.

In conclusion, I strongly believe that it is a wise idea to teach children how to be patient.  This is because it will help them achieve academic excellence, and it will help them become financially independent. (430 words)