It is okay to want your kids to be entrepreneurs, but it is important to note that your children may not have the same love for business as you–and may resent you pushing them toward something they are not cut out for.
However, if what you’d really like is for your children to grow up to have entrepreneurial qualities, start by sharing simple life skills with them. Share how you negotiate tough deals, or why you picked one idea over another to become successful in your field.
Your kids may not grow up to be entrepreneurs, but if you play your cards right, they will be savvy, smart, and value the lessons you taught them as they journey through life. Oh, and they will love you for encouraging them toward things that really make them confident in making their own money!
To help your kids learn to solve their own problems and take initiative like every successful entrepreneur, try these tips:
1. Start teaching them the value of money early
Even if you can, don’t buy them everything. Let them earn whatever they want.
2. Teach them the value of hard work
Have them do work for you either at home or in your business or job and reward them.
3. Teach them responsibilities
Let them know they are responsible for their own decisions and accountable for their choices.
4. Teach them the concept of sacrifice
To reach a goal in life, they might have to make sacrifices, however small.
5. Teach them that every choice has rewards and consequences
They are the ones who have to live with the pros and cons of every decision.
6. Teach them independence
Entrepreneurs get the best ideas from having the space to think creatively. Let them learn to solve their own problems and take initiative.
7. Teach them perseverance
Encouraging them to engage in sports, exercises and tasks would help their personal, emotional and intellectual development.
8. Inspire them towards creativity
Let them create things in total freedom with no influence from you.
9. Finally and most importantly, teach them that it is OK to fail.
Some cultures, like Nigeria’s, emphasize perfect scores, being the best, winning, being first place, etc. But to be a successful entrepreneur, a child needs to be raised up in an environment where he/she is taught to stand up after a failure and learn from it.
In summary, instead of designing the idea of what you want your child to be, nurture them and give them the tools to find out for themselves. You can only give them the opportunity, but you cannot force them to take it.
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