No normal, sane parent looks at their child and wishes that they wouldn’t amount to anything: it just doesn’t happen. The parents who care about their children out there want them to be better than they ever could. They want their kids to succeed and to achieve everything that they possibly can. It’s these same parents that will set their kids up for life, to succeed and become those valuable members of society.
We don’t expect our kids to end up top neurosurgeons (though it’s nice to dream). We just expect that our kids will be happy, intelligent and well-adjusted adults. It’s up to us to make sure that our children are set up for success, whether we learn to buy bitcoin and open a savings account as a result, or we send them to private schools so that they can learn as well as they can. We’re constantly fed the narrative that children today are lazy, bored and never do anything fun – well, the kids today are far savvier than we ever were, that’s for sure! You want to have children that are set up emotionally, physically and – if you can manage it – financially, too. Below, we’ve got some of those methods you can use to make it happen.
1. Keep their feet grounded while encouraging their minds to fly.
Children need to daydream, and you need to let them do it. That doesn’t mean that you can’t keep them grounded and focused. Just make sure that they’re channelling those dreams the right way and help them to do it. If you’re the parent that tells them that their dreams matter, that sticks with them for life.
2. Remove the entitlement mentality.
It’s not your child’s fault – or yours. We’re raising children in a world filled with instant gratification and you have to teach the kids you’re raising to be the best that they can be without expectation of anything in return. You will be doing them a huge favor when you do! It’s okay that they are disappointed from time to time – really. It helps them to learn to manage those feelings.
3. Teach them to budget
oh dear, please do! Children are NOT taught this fundamental lesson in school, so you need to be the one to do it. Parents have to take the time to involve their children in balancing the bills and teach them how to save a portion of any money they are given so that they can learn to save up. It’s an important skill and it helps to foster children who will be able to learn more.
4. Teach your children to be kind.
Believe it or not, many parents rely on the “it was good enough for me” mantra. We should want better for our children, and that means teaching them to be kind and teaching them to sometimes put others’ feelings first. If they can learn to be kind while they’re young, you won’t end up with unfeeling adults.
5. Encourage them to have ambitions.
Some people don’t have any ambition, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t and your children can’t. Give them the tools to have a dream and chase it. It’ll teach them to set and achieve goals.