The most powerful role model for your child just sits right across the dinner table – you.
Raising healthy and well-adjusted children is no mean feat. Kids need unlimited supply of love, just the right amount of boundaries and someone to look up to and learn from. They need role models. Many of us think of a role model as someone iconic and famous, looked up to by thousands of people. But according to Merriam-Webster’s dictionary, a role model is merely “a person whose behavior in a particular role is imitated by others.” This means, the most powerful role model for your child just sits right across the dinner table – you.
“Parents play a huge role in the future success of their children, and the earlier they are introduced to the world of business, the bigger the impact they can make.” shares Philippine Business School Chairman – Lyndon Magsino, during one of the Kids Business Tycoon programs.
Parents don’t need to be especially well-off to provide this kind of influence on their kids. If you’re an entrepreneur yourself, all it takes is sharing your experience with your children as your business journey progresses. If you aren’t, the conversations you have with your kids can still get them thinking about ideas and values they can later carry on to their professional lives.
Research shows parents play a huge influence in determining a child’s work ethic and habits. This means that how you talk to your kids about your job directly shapes the ideas about the type of work they are likely to adopt. Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education found that parental conversation shapes academic socialization, setting kids’ expectations, and linking current behavior and future goals.
Cultivate an entrepreneurial mind-set in your kids. If you’re an entrepreneur yourself, explain to your kids how your business works in the same way you would explain other things they don’t understand. Share how and where you find business opportunities. No matter what business you’re in, try to be candid about the reality of the day to day journey of your business. Exposure to the world of business and entrepreneurship helps children to learn essential life skills that would help develop their confidence across the board. It isn’t necessarily telling your kids to become entrepreneurs themselves, but teaching them the values that enable it.
Continually study and learn yourself. As cliché as it may sound, actions speak louder than words. Talk about what you’re learning and why that matters. This teaches kids to never stop growing. Demonstrate the importance of never-ending self-education by living it. Let your kids see you reading books, listening to podcasts, taking courses, or doing research, and involve them in it; explain what ideas and skills you’re picking up and why they interest you.
Parents can have the most profound influence on their children’s educational achievements and when parents place value on education, usually their kids do too. If we want our children to grow up aspiring to excel in any of their endeavors, they need positive role models around them. And like the proverbial airplane oxygen mask, you can’t help your kids until you’ve helped yourself first. In becoming an effective role model for your kids, seek for progress not perfection. This can mean improving skill sets or further honing those terrific characteristics that are already present.
Philippine Business School aims to inspire global Filipinos, parents and children alike to continuously pursue your dreams. Call PBS today to know more about our exciting programs where you and your kids could bond and learn at the same time and know how you can avail a SCHOLARSHIP for your program of choice!
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