Influencing our children to become successful is a major challenge for many parents – even those who are very successful themselves. This can be a very frustrating experience. However, some parents manage to achieve great success in this arena and achieve positive social mobility while others fail. What cause success and
failure in this very important area of parenting and life in general? Can we guarantee our children’s success? Of course not! So what can we do? We can try our best to be a positive influence on their lives. So, how do we positively influence our children towards a successful life? We must first demonstrate success in out own life. We have to teach and lead our children by example.
Our actions will always be more influential to our children than our advice. Some parents will tell their children all the good things that they should be doing to become this wonderful person and at the same time the parents themselves are not doing anything to improve their own lives. Modern children will not buy into this idea of “you tell me and I’ll do it”. They are more about, you show me and I will follow you. Our children prefer to copy us to listen to us. For example, if you want your child to read, you might just have to become a reader yourself. If you want your child to be healthy, you might just have to get in shape yourself. If you want your child to take their education seriously, you might just have to start doing courses again. I know one parent who went back to university to do a degree just to demonstrate the importance of education to her children.
Parenting and leading your children by example will be a stretch for many parents but raising successful children does require some level of sacrifice. Surprisingly, these sacrifices tend to help parents become more successful themselves. So, it’s generally a win-win situation.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Dr. Nick
Dr. Nick is a multi-awarding winning tutor, motivational speaker and empowerment coach. He started his career as a schoolteacher followed by becoming a university lecturer but now he uses his skills, knowledge and expertise to help others find their path in life, overcome their challenges and become the best version of themselves. With over 20 years experience, Dr. Nick is a well sought after professional and throughout his career he has successfully empowered 1000s of people across the globe to achieve their true potential.
