The best gift any parent can give their child is preparing them for success, with everyday experiences. My 30 year old daughter is more business savvy than many of her peers, because she was exposed to the idea of being business savvy from an early age. She has a resume that produces job interviews more often, despite the fact she only attended college for a brief period.
Use what works for you. Discard the rest.
The Dirtiest 4 Letter Word: This nasty little word will handicap a child all their lives, if we allow our children to say it over and over again. As a parent, we tell our child they can be whoever they want. Then we teach them that dirty word. I told my daughter "if you ever say that word, I'll wash your mouth out with soap". I only had to keep my promise to her once and she never said that word again. Read More . . .
Everyone Has a Job: As a child, I told my daughter "everyone in the house has a job. Mommy's job is a real estate building manager. My job is programming computers. Princess, your job is to go to school, do your best and behave. This helps mommy and daddy not worry about you. If we do not worry about you, we can make sure you have a nice place to live and buy food that you can eat everyday".
Life Does Pay an Allowance: Income we achieve as professionals, is based on performance. So why not teach our children that principle as early as possible? We found out the hard way. Rather than giving an allowance, I put a monetary value on the grades my daughter achieved. She knew she would receive NO money for any grade less than a "B". Fifty ($.50) cents for a "B". Seventy five ($.75) for a "B+". One dollar ($1.00) for an "A". Report cards were milestone markers with bonus payments. Any subjects with low grades were reviewed collaboratively. We came up with a game plan plan for improving subject grades.
Travel is the Best Education: As I learned from my father and did with my daughter, traveling to different places is the best education any parent can give a child. Local day outings work well, but long distance trips work better. Experiences that allow children to be exposed to different environments, cultures, foods etc. allows them to apply their academic learning in real life situations. Education is worthless, if does not empower people to solve problems or make informed decisions. Travel provides for a more well rounded education. Trips to the zoo, park, movies, the beach etc. all count. Taking children on trips to other countries or outside states provide an even bigger return on educational investment.
I'm in the Guinness Book of World Records for being on the longest car ride, as a child. At age 11, my father drove me from the Bronx, down through Mexico and into Guatemala in Central America. . . . Just kidding about Guinness world record. The car ride is true. It provided me with a better understanding of diversity in cultures, as an adult. As a child, I just thought my father was fearless adventurer. And that instilled much confidence in me.
Parent Teacher Night Develops Communication skills: I always took my daughter to parent teacher night at her school. We had an agreement that no matter what teachers said I would not embarrass her in public. I did encourage dialog between the teacher, myself and my daughter. This was especially helpful to my daughter, because she felt involved in the process. She was also getting practice expressing herself and ideas. If a teacher had a concern or issue with my daughter's performance or behavior, I would allow my daughter to respond [respectfully]. Then we all talked about the next steps for improvement for my daughter. My daughter always told me afterwards she was nervous at the beginning of the night, but became more relaxed as we visited each of her teachers. She gained much confidence.
Networking Starts at the Sandbox: Children make friends easier than adults. Children do not prejudge. They are just glad to have a friend to play with. Whenever my daughter brought a friend over to our house, I always insisted she introduce her friend to me and her mother. I would accompany my daughter to her friend's house. I would ask her or her friend to introduce me to her friend's parents. I would make it a point to introduce my daughter to our friends. These basic actions reinforce basic social skills children require to compete in the business world. The power of networking always starts at the introduction.
Sharing Leads to Giving Back to the Community: I encouraged my daughter to volunteer her time for different school events, even if she was not participating directly. Learning to share as a child prepares for giving as an adult.
Helping Mommy/Daddy at Work: From the age of 12 my daughter was exposed to business concepts by assisting me develop my technology consulting business. During Spring/Summer breaks, I gave her simple tasks to complete. She learned how operate the computer and do word processing. She learned proper etiquette for answering the phone. She learned how to use a calculator to tally invoices. Later she learned to enter those numbers into a spreadsheet. Still later she learned to make travel arrangements. Take your child to work as often as possible. Explain what you do and relate it back to everyone's job at home. Give them something to do at your office, to prepare them for the future.
School is Never Out: As children we believe school is finished when certain educational levels are completed. As adults, we find out that the school of life is a never ending education. My daughter recently encountered life's enduring lessons of sharing an apartment with a room mate. Since she was small, I always asked her "what have learned from this experience".
Do You Want the Yellow or Red Lollipop?: Teaching decision making skills can start very early. From the age of 2, I would present my daughter with options to allow her to develop decision making skills. I presented her choices where either decision was comfortable with me. As she sat in her stroller, I asked her "do want the red lollipop or the yellow lollipop"? She chose the red one. When she finished eating the red lollipop, she gestured for me to give her the yellow one. As basic as I could, I explained to her [paraphrasing] "you decided on the red lollipop. You must stick to your decision." Her mother thought I was just the meanest person. This process continued throughout my daughter's childhood and into the teen years. Decision skills are key to dealing with all the business land mines adults encounter.
Bad Child Bad Child: How a person performs in the business arena is based on how much confidence they have in themselves. If a parent constantly tells a child "You're a loser. You'll never amount to anything", the child will produce that result. Placing the spotlight on the "unacceptable action" is what children need to understand from their parents. I would tell my daughter, "I'm angry at what you did, not you as a person. I love you, but your actions are unacceptable". A child must understand that everyone makes mistakes, but that does not make them a bad person. As an adult, a person can better handle reprimands by as manager as long as they know they still have self worth.
Learning Right from Wrong Develops Integrity: The values we teach children is the cornerstone of who they become as adults. Business situations come up all the time that place people in precarious situations. Integrity is the most valuable commodity any person can own. Its intrinsic value increases every time we make the hard decisions, regardless of what others might say or think. Now is the time to teach our children, while values can be easily absorbed in those spongy brains.
Copyright (c) 2004 - 2007 - 2013 C. E. Reid, SAVVY INTRAPRENEUR
No comments:
Post a Comment