As I’ve mentioned before teaching is one of my greatest joys.
Back when I started, it was all about helping people understand my language and showing my students how much fun it could be.
But over the years I changed.
I realized that English was more than just a language but rather a tool with which people could change their entire lives.
Today I still teach, but in a very different way.
I teach life skills, business ideas and philosophy in order to help people find their true goals and dreams.
While most of my clients today work for a living, I am honored to have a few clients under the age of 20.
They are a unique challenge as they still don’t know much about the “real” world but at the same time are untapped raw power.
Too often teenagers are overlooked as being too young.
But they are the future, there is no denying that.
Among them are the next Michael Jordan, Bill Gates and Britney Spears.
Looking at my two-year-old son today it’s hard to believe that one day he’ll be telling me what to do, but that day will come.
It’s just one of those things that will happen.
As such, I believe that it’s the responsibility of us, the parents and educators, to better prepare kids for life.
So what are some things we can help kids understand?
- Attitude (how often do we overlook this?)
- Manners (people do judge us whether we like it or not)
- Knowledge (it’s not enough to simply read the Internet, they need to be able to formulate their own ideas)
- Health (how quickly we lose it if we’re not careful)
- Business (the pros and cons of the business world)
- Money (how to manage it)
- Communication (key to relationships both in business and love)
- Education (having mentors in their fields of interest is essential in my mind)
- Taxes (how little children know about them)
None of us is an expert in every one of those fields, but I’m sure we can all find people who are.
And don’t fret if you can’t – just open up amazon and place an order for a few books.
But the best way we can help kids learn isn’t by telling our kids to study them.
The best way is by studying them ourselves.
In two years when my son turns 4 we will enroll our son in a Dojo to learn either Aikido or Juujitsu.
But we will do it as a family.
They say that the key to leadership is to lead by example.
That is what we intend to do.
We will practice, so he will think it’s natural for him to practice.
The big mistake that some parents make, in my opinion, is that they tell their kids to study and then don’t do it themselves.
By learning more skills ourselves we can pass them along not only to our own kids, but our friends and relatives.
Just imagine how powerful we could become if everyone around us made it a goal to master new skills.
The title of this post is “to see the future, look at the kids” because there is no denying that their time in the sun will come.
But, another way to look at it would be, “to see the future, look in the mirror.”
We are the ones who influence the next generation, just as our parents influenced us.
If we want to build a brighter future, we should start with us.
That’s why I wrote iSucceed, to share ideas with anyone who wants to have a better life for themselves, and in turn, their kids.
So what are we waiting for?
Let’s get cracking.
Adrian Shepherd
I agree with everything on your list to make your children well educated and well rounded individuals. Unfortunately most education today is concerned with memorization of material instead of teaching the children to think and construct. Learning is valuable and it starts from birth to the end of our lives, there’s never a finish line when it comes to acquiring knowledge and skills. One thing that I think is important to learn also but is not taught in school are survival skills and first aid. There’s so many dangers in our home and in the natural world and we could easily harm ourselves if not taught properly how to stay safe. We think that since we’re on the top of the food chain now that we are invincible, but how many times have you heard in the news about an unfortunate hiker who gets lost and is killed by animals or hypothermia, about someone electrocuting himself, or someone getting high with drugs or chemicals? Another important issue is community service or joining the military. I think it would be beneficial for the young adult to be involved in one or the other to learn teamwork and duty to one’s country for 1-2 yrs in high school or right after graduation. Volunteer work or military service, I think, teaches the importance of making a difference in other people’s lives besides our own, because the world would be so much better if were a little less self-centered.
Linh, I wholeheartedly agree that volunteer work and military service can teach us many valuable disciplines and lessons of life. I have done volunteer work in my past and found it both rewarding and challenging and I suppose it was one of the reasons I am who I am today.