Every parent desires to see their kids successful and thriving, and the best way to make that happen is to develop them to lead. Those who refuse to simply follow the tide and be complacent are always those most likely to become successful. However, when training kids to be leaders, many parents forget one thing.
Leadership development starts at home. We can invest countless dollars in our children to get them into trainings, workshops and personality development classes, but when unaccompanied by leadership development practices done by parents, our children might not become the leaders we want them to be.
There are dozens of ways to train our children to become leaders that will honor God in all aspects of their lives, and I would like to share four simple but not necessarily easy ways to develop your children into leaders.
1. Let them fail
Helicopter parenting has grown in the past decade and has formed entitled and spoiled kids. While I am not implying that we neglect our children completely, we must allow them room to grow by trusting them to win their own battles and sometimes (or even more often than a parent would hope for) even face their own defeat.
2. Allow opportunities to take charge
Whether it's as simple as taking the lead in family devotions or watching over the siblings while mom and dad are away (while also having a few back-up plans), kids need opportunities to lead. Some leadership roles may take close supervision and others might ask for you to step back, we need to deliberately and creatively think of ways to give our children leadership roles at home.
3. Focus on their gifts and talents
One of the most meaningful investments parents can make is to invest in their passion. Sure it can be expensive putting money in classes and equipment and take time off work to personally participate and show support, but it will always be worth it. Also take note that we are called to focus on their gifts and not the gifts that we want for them.
4. Be their followers
We need to lead and guide our children, but we also need to follow them. Parents can learn a thing or two from kids and when we refuse to learn from them just because "we're the parents," we deprive them of opportunities to catch God-given revelations and impart them to others.
