Helping Your Children Grow Into Leaders

There are two types of people in this world—leaders and followers. And while that may seem cliché, it is true and there will always be those who enjoy taking control of different situations. Some leaders may surface during situations that require someone stepping up to the challenge. And a leader can be made. Children have the possibility of turning out in one of two ways, will your child be a leader or a follower?

Every parents wants their child to be a leader—to have the attitude, mentality, and ability to lead a group and themselves. And this is something that you can teach your children. As parents, you can help them learn how to think as a leader would and act as they would act. At Resurrection Christian School, we understand the importance of leadership among different peer groups, and we love seeing our students emerge as leaders. There are many different things you can do to help your children develop and grow into leaders. These lessons and skills may come naturally, but there are ways you can help your child start on the path to leadership.

Start When They Are Young

Your kids learn from watching you and your actions. If you have a positive attitude, face challenges and show them that failure is a learning opportunity. Encourage your children to step outside of their comfort zone whenever possible, push themselves mentally and physically, and take risks. This will allow your children to get comfortable standing up against fears and prepare them to face others.

At a young age, your child will be able to develop different traits and will learn more your actions. Be a good role model for them and show them what a true leader looks like. This will help them begin to adopt their own leadership skills and continue learning new skills into the future.

Teach Them To Work As A Team

A leader works with a team to achieve a goal. Team activities can help encourage your children to take charge and try to motivate everyone to work together. Even if they do not develop leadership skills on the team, it is important for them to see why it is important that an entire team works together and the value in having a team.

If you child does develop leadership skills on their team, be sure to help them best put these skills to use and make the team feel like they can only reach their goals with everyone working together. Teaching your child to be motivating to others may be a challenge but it is something that will help them become a better leader.

Use Motivation

Speaking of the importance of motivation, you should always motivate your children. Make sure they know what they are working towards, as well as the importance of what they’re doing, and that hard work pays off. Keeping your kids motivated can help them feel more confident in their work, feel as though they have significance, and can keep them interested in reaching their goals.

Work On Emotional Intelligence

According to this Forbes article, emotional intelligence (EQ) is a big factor when it comes to developing valuable leadership skills. Emotional intelligence is what helps us manage behavior, make personal decision that achieve positive results, and work through social problems.

EQ is a learned behavior from parents. Children watch how you act in your everyday life, how you respond to strong emotions, and acknowledge how aware of emotions you are.

Forbes mentions a study done by TalentSmart, which found that EQ is responsible for 58 percent of a leader’s performance in their job and 90 percent of top-performing leaders have higher EQs. Being attuned with our emotions may be difficult, but that is because we do not work on developing our EQs. Help your child develop their EQ and they will have a better chance at becoming an effective leader. Emotional intelligence is learned, and these behaviors can easily become habits. Learn more about EQ from the TalentSmart article.

Teach Your Child To Grow From Failure

Every single person, at some point in their life, will experience failure. Whether it is a test, a job interview, or working toward their dream, everyone will face this challenge and have to learn how to deal with it. Teaching your child that failure is okay, will allow them to understand that they can take risks. A leader must learn to take risks and understand the consequences that could come from them.

After your child has faced failure a few times, they will be able to better understand what risks are worth taking. This will help them in many different areas of their life—decision making, comparing risk versus reward, and perseverance.

Teach Perseverance

This is an important part of being a leader and it goes hand-in-hand with failure. Teaching your kids to keep trying and push their challenges and mistakes can help them work until they get it right, and when they finally achieve their goal, they will feel more accomplished and proud of themselves. Failing is only a chance to try something again in a different way, teach them that failure means nothing more than that and have them continue to push themselves and work until they figure it out.

Communication Is Key

Remember that all good leaders are great at communicating. Teach your children how to communicate with everyone, from adults to their peers. Emphasize what good communication looks like compared to bad. Don’t talk for them, allow your children to order their own food, ask adults questions, and communicate with you effectively rather than yelling or throwing a tantrum.

Good communication is not only a good leadership skill, but a life skill that your kids will carry with them throughout their entire lives. Teaching good communication can help them in more ways than one, which is why it is so important to teach them from a young age.

Work On Decision Making

Dealing with failure, working towards a goal, and learning how to act in response to our emotion, all go along with learning how to make good decision. Teaching your child to make good decisions and how to do so can help them greatly in life. They will learn to think about the outcome, why this decision is important, and how it will affect their lives. This is an important quality for a leader to have, and the sooner your child learns the value of good decision making, the easier their life will be.

Let Them Do Their Own Thing

If your child is working on a project, attempting to learn something, or working on an activity, let them work alone. If they struggle, take a step back and let them work their the problem by themselves. Allow them to do things on their own, make their own decisions, and work through their failures. This will teach them not to always rely on receiving help. They will learn to work through their own issues and get the satisfaction of figuring it out on their own. This is a great way to help your children build more confidence, become more independent, and realize the importance of hard work and perseverance.

There are many things you can do to help your children develop leadership skills, this list in only highlighting a few of the most important things that make up a leader. Even if your child does end up being more of a follower, they will benefit greatly from these lessons you taught them.

These lessons, along with an education at Resurrection Christian School, can put your children on a path to success and help them become an effective leader. At RCS, we value leadership and teach our students how to be leaders and what it takes. The lessons you teach your children, along with what we teach at our school, have the potential to make leaders out of more children than most people would expect.

Learn more about the RCS today and work with your children to a learn and understand the importance of these different leadership skill. Feel free to contact us with any questions.