Leadership for Kids: The How-To for Parents

When I think of leadership, I think of a person that is living a fulfilling life. Leaders don’t always have to be CEO’s of Fortune 500 companies nor have a million followers on social media. They can be found within the walls of our homes, in schools, in the workplace, communities, and in virtually all walks of life. Some kids tend to have that take charge or magnetic persona from an early age, but just because they have some natural leadership qualities, it doesn’t mean that leadership qualities are solely innate. Contrary to what some may believe, great leaders don’t just happen overnight, or at birth, but leadership skills are developed and honed over time.

As parents, we may think that leadership will be established through education or outside influences or that it’ll just happen one day. If we take this approach, maybe they will develop into leaders and maybe they won’t, but taking a proactive parenting approach will provide our kids with the skills for leadership.

We may have the thought that perhaps our kids just aren’t made to be leaders. If we change our perspective on what being a leader is and see it as our kids influencing others for the good, what parent doesn’t want their kids to be like that? All our kids have unique skills, talents, and abilities that can be pursued and used to enrich the lives of others.

What makes a good leader?

This is really a challenging thing to define, as there are definitely certain traits that leaders possess, but leadership can contain several slightly different definitions. One central theme to leadership is the ability to help others become better.

Being a great leader is a lifelong pursuit, so as parents, it’ll never be a checklist, like by the age 16, all these skills will be developed in our child. Providing a foundation throughout childhood, will help your kids to continue to build on what they learned throughout adulthood.

These are some of the leadership skills that I want my children to develop:

Integrity

Integrity is at the core of being a phenomenal leader. Someone who is going to do what’s right even when no one is watching, when things aren’t going their way, or when it would be easier to just do what everyone else is doing.

How we to teach our kids: Parents have to know and model moral standards. What are 5 major moral values that you believe in? Think about universal morals that make-up the world we live in. Provide scenarios and have a discussion on how they would/should respond.

Parents.com has a great article that discusses 5 values to teach kids by age 5 which include:

1.Honesty

2.Justice

3.Determination

4.Consideration

5.Love

For example, if you were being bullied or witnessed bullying how could you act? What do you think about stealing?

Confidence

 When kids are confident in who they are and what they want, they become a person that others want to follow. We can build confident children by providing them with the love and support that will help them flourish. Telling your kids that you believe in them and offering lots of positive praise builds confidence.

How we teach our kids: Parents can help their kids set and achieve small goals that will build confidence. Allow your kids to be independent and back off on always trying to do everything for your kids. As they have little successes in their lives, it will fuel their self-esteem. Help them to work through problems, but don’t solve them all for them.

Empowering others

 Leaders are great at being a teacher, motivator, or someone who helps others reach their full potential.

How we teach our kids: Give your kids opportunities to teach. We do a family night once per week, which sometimes include a family activity or a lesson on specific value or principal. It is a great opportunity for kids to have a chance to teach something to the family. There are so many ways we can have our kids teach in the home, which will help them to teach others outside the home.

Empathy

A great leader cares about the well-being of others. Everyone wants to follow someone who truly cares about them and is doing all they can for the good of others.

How we teach our kids: Serving others is the best way to learn empathy. We can help our kids be involved in opportunities to serve others through volunteering in the community or just helping a neighbor or even a sibling. Teaching our kids to recognize feelings in themselves and others will help them develop empathy. For example, asking your kids things like, how would it make you feel if someone shared their toy with you or what did you feel when you made someone smile.

Humble

Humility is a noble trait that is underrated when it comes to leadership. It seems that being humble can be misconstrued as being weak, which is far from the truth. A great leader doesn’t let external circumstances cause them to lose sight of who they are.

How we teach our kids: Being humble can come through work. A sense of entitlement through just giving our kids what they want, will diminish humility. We can teach work ethic and provide our kids the opportunities to work. Here I provide 8 ideas to transform the way your kids view work.

Communicator

Being able to communicate effectively is crucial to being a great leader. I say effectively because a leader doesn’t have to be overly talkative, but someone that can communicate a clear vision to those they lead.

How we teach our kids: Encourage your kids to have public speaking opportunities through places like school, clubs, religion, or community groups.

Doer

 Leaders are proactive and get things done.

How we teach our kids: Creating structure in the home is a great way to model this behavior. Encouraging our kids to get things like homework or chores done, before playing, can help build a “get it done” mentality.

Positive Attitude

Great Leaders look for the good in every situation and how they can make things better. They are innovators and creators, which stems from a positive outlook.

Persevere

Quitters don’t go very far in life and definitely don’t lead. When faced with challenges we want our kids to respond valiantly, by doing what it takes to be great.

How we teach our kids: Help your kids to have small successes, getting your kids involved in a talent like sports, art, music, etc helps kids to learn how to practice perseverance –encourage them through challenges they face –be a support when things don’t work out.

Ways kids can start being a leader

Now that we’ve gone through some of the major traits of being a leader and how to build those traits, let’s look at a few ideas on how to get our kids to put those skills into action.

Volunteer

Here I give 14 reasons why youth should do volunteer work, along with provide some resources to find volunteer opportunities. There are so many volunteer possibilities that can provide unique leadership opportunities for your kids which include anything from reading a book to younger children to serving food to homeless individuals.

Clubs

There are so many various options for kids to get involved in something that promotes leadership skills. Your child could explore clubs in academics, religious groups, gardening, agriculture, drama, music, student government, arts, scouting, and much more. Here are some great organizations worth checking out:

4-H A great program that teaches youth agriculture practices and how to care for animals. 4-H helps kids learn through hands-on activities by teaching them to respect the environment around them. Kids will utilize good health practices and learn to work with others.

Future Business Leaders of America An organization with a commitment to building leaders for future generations. It is one of the largest organizations run by students. Youth are involved in business, community, and government leadership roles.

National Junior Honor Society Students must fulfill the requirements of the 4 pillars of academics – citizenship, service, leadership, scholarship and character to be admitted. NJHS helps prepare students for college and financial aid. Participants will continue to be involved in leadership development and service opportunities.

Math Counts It’s an organization that teaches kids not to fear math, but to love it. Kids will develop problem solving skills that will benefit them in life. Math Counts will prepare kids for academic success and career opportunities.

Girl Scouts A program designed just for girls. Girl scouts will work towards accomplishing goals through earning merit badges. Girls will learn skills in entrepreneurship, science, outdoors, and life skills. Girls will have the opportunities to lead others and learn by doing.

Kiwanis Kids Develops leadership through service. Kiwanis Kids programs focus on character development. Kids will be able to serve in leadership roles to help plan various activities in the community.

Rotary Interact Clubs Another amazing service based organization. Rotary Interact promotes cultural awareness and has a focus on global and community service. Participants will get to develop social skills with others from around the community and the world. Students will develop two major service projects and/or fundraisers per year and will work with local Rotary clubs on various projects.

American Red Cross Youth Students will be able to engage in fun activities and learn how to fundraise. Kids will be able to serve with one of the largest humanitarian organizations in the world to aid in serving victims of natural disasters.

Best Buddies International This organization allows students to be a mentor to individuals with intellectual disabilities. Youth will develop friendships and empathy for others by providing a better quality of life for individuals with disabilities.

Speaking Groups

Check out some of the youth public speaking programs like Speakbright. They offer programs for both younger kids and teens. The programs help kids build confidence in public speaking, learn public speaking strategies, how to prepare speeches, and more.Toastmasters has a long history of creating a supportive environment to strengthen public speaking. They also offer various youth based clubs and programs. Here is a site that is dedicated to the Youth Programs with Toastmasters.

Work

I started working bagging groceries at the age of 14. Opportunities exist for your teens to obtain a part time job to get a taste for what being in the work field is like and to start earning money. Younger kids can do things like have a lemon aide stand, yard work, organize a garage sale, or babysit.

Youth Sports

 Participating in youth sports helps kids learn how to work within a team. Youth sports instill so many values related to leadership. I provide insight on what sport is right for your child and how to get the most out of youth sports.

How being a leader will benefit your child

• • Gain respect of others

• • Create opportunities

• • Build self-esteem

• • Be able to have a positive impact on the world

• Connect with others

In closing, I hope to have provided a better understanding of what a leader is all about, how a great leader is made, and ways we can teach our kids to become better leaders. It may be easier to sit back and let schools, communities, or organizations attempt to mold our children, but I know that as we take ownership of our leadership roles as parents, we can model, teach, and prepare our kids to be generational leaders that our society needs to thrive.

Please comment below anything that you enjoyed from this post and let me know about ways you have helped your kids develop leadership skills.