How to raise entrepreneurial kids

“Get back up and keep going”
is something I have taught my children since before they could talk.

We take many falls in life. Initially it’s just falling off a bike, but later it becomes more symbolic falls like academic failures, losses in competitions, and social challenges.

My children know that if they fall they must “get back up and keep going”.

if they fall during the day they proudly tell me at night

“Daddy, I fell today but I got up and kept going!”

We then exchange big smiles and a high five.
I show more excitement and pride when they back up and keep going versus if they don’t fall at all.
They’ve learned that “get back up and keep going” is what their father considers success and they are eager to succeed.

Share with me, how do you react when thy fall ?

More tips from Yinon Weiss:
https://buff.ly/2tz59nL

Watch this with your kids,
at least one a day :)

If You've Never Failed,
You've Never Tried Anything New

https://buff.ly/2Nfdzde

Leaders ensure the well being of others before themselves.

Parent: “Ok, you’re the dessert leader. Who will get dessert first?”

Child: “Me!”

Parent: “Really? Do leaders take care of themselves or others first?”

Child: “Umm… others!”

Parent: “That’s right. So who what will be the order of the dessert?”

Child: “First Jacob, then Sarah, then Daddy, and finally me!”

Parent: “Great job. You’re being a good leader.”
🎂🎂🎂

Keep in mind this child is only 4 years old and he is already learning key principles of leadership. Such a practice can and should come at every opportunity, from crossing the street to eating cup cakes. It may not seem like much, but when combined with dozens of other similar acts every day, a great deal of leadership instincts and habits are formed.

More from Yinon Weiss:
https://medium.com//how-to-raise-happy-and-entrepreneurial-children-perspectives-from-a-silicon-valley-ceo-2d4a98522a44

My son once saw a homeless man on the street corner and asked my wife why he was just standing there.
After learning what it meant to be homeless, he came up with an idea for a business called “Homeless Feeders.”
His grand idea was to raise money and provide food and shelter to the homeless in his area.
Specifically, he wanted to provide them with “100 bananas, a rollaway bed, and $1 million.” :)
🤣🤣🤣

If you take the steps to build a solid entrepreneurial foundation for you child, they will start to come up with unique ideas of their own. More often than not, these ideas will be outlandish and hilarious.

Whatever you do, don’t discourage them. Take their ideas seriously, no matter how silly they may be.
Instead, Encouraged them to pursue the idea, and think through what they would need in order to accomplish it.

More from Chris Myers:
https://buff.ly/2NFDMS5

it is important that children don’t develop an instinct of going to an adult to solve every small challenge they face throughout the day.
Having your smaller 4 year old brother take your lego or having your bigger 6 year old sister hit you is something our children should be able to at least try to handle themselves, even if that attempt fails and turns into a learning opportunity.

So now if one of our children comes to us with a

“Daddy, my brother hit me”,

my response is
“Did you defend yourself? What did you do about it?”

Upon asking this question, you can see the gears turning in their head thinking “oh, I could have tried to do something about it myself...”

Teach them to solve their own problems, even if the solution is not as optimized as what your decades of experience can solve for them.

More from Yinon Weiss:
https://buff.ly/2tz59nL

You want your kids to watch this

BUILD A LIFE, DON'T LIVE ONE
💪💪💪

Ashton Kutcher Speech - Build a Life - Don't live one, build one. Teen Choice Awards (HQ) (High Quality) Encouraging words from an unlikely source. Ashton Kutcher, who will play Apple founder Steve Jobs in the upcoming biopic "Jobs" next month, wo...

Life is a contact sport, at least emotionally.
For children, it’s also often physical.

I believe that to be self-confident emotionally, one also has to be self-confident physically.

Individual sports, and especially contact sports, puts the child at the center of attention and emphasizes the need for discipline, setting goals, overcoming personal challenges, and mentally mastering one’s own body.

More from Yinon Weiss:
https://medium.com//how-to-raise-happy-and-entrepreneurial-children-perspectives-from-a-silicon-valley-ceo-2d4a98522a44

Infuse leadership into everyday life

When we walk in a group, we verbally designate a leader within the family. What’s important is that there is self-awareness that there is a leader and what the leader is doing.
I ask

“ok, who wants to be the leader?”

and the kids maneuver their way to the front of the group and say “I want to be the leader!”
This creates a great sense of self-confidence and purpose, and while this form of leadership is basic, it is building habits that forms the leader’s mind.

More from Yinon Weiss:
https://buff.ly/2tz59nL

Introducing the concept of entrepreneurial risk is a bit tricky.

After all, there is a subtle yet important distinction between entrepreneurial risk and general risky behavior.

In order to make this distinction, use the term “initiative” instead of risk.

For our son, “initiative” means getting creative and taking proactive steps in order to get what he desires. It’s a risk, of course, because there’s no guarantee that it will pan out.

More from Chris Myers:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/chrismyers/2017/03/31/how-to-raise-an-entrepreneurial-child/

Give them a challenge, encourage and support them

How to Support Your Entrepreneurial Kids Walking the line between challenging your kids and proving you believe in their potential.

Helicopter parent is a parent who pays extremely close attention to his child's experiences and problems.

However, there is a fine line between pushing a child to succeed and doing the work for him to give the illusion of success.

If we want to create the next generation of innovators, entrepreneurs and problem solvers, we need to give our children greater room to fail and recover on their own.

Simply put, children who are denied the difficulty of struggle are also denied the success and maturity of overcoming struggles and solving problems.

Parents, it’s time to take a step back and help your kids succeed, by letting them fail.

Read more in this great article:

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/joe-kapp/how-helicopter-parents-ar_b_8911444.html

Better not praising intelligence or talent.
That has failed.
Don't do that anymore.

But praising the process that kids engage in, their effort, their strategies, their focus, their perseverance, their improvement.

This process praise creates kids who are hardy and resilient.

Check out this TED talk (4:09)
https://www.ted.com/talks/carol_dweck_the_power_of_believing_that_you_can_improve

Teach your kids

"Business opportunities are like buses, there’s always another one coming."

- Richard Branson

If one of your children comes to you with a
“Daddy, my brother hit me”,

What would be your response ?
How about:
“Did you defend yourself? What did you do about it?”

Read here more (By Yinon Weiss):
https://medium.com//how-to-raise-happy-and-entrepreneurial-children-perspectives-from-a-silicon-valley-ceo-2d4a98522a44

Encourage resilient by switching from "NO" to "NOT YET".

In one high school in Chicago students had to pass a certain number of courses to graduate, and if they didn't pass a course, they got the grade "Not Yet."
And I thought that was fantastic

Because if you get a failing grade, you think, I'm nothing, I'm nowhere.
But if you get the grade "Not Yet", you understand that you're on a learning curve.

It gives you a path into the future.

check out this great TED talk
https://www.ted.com/talks/carol_dweck_the_power_of_believing_that_you_can_improve

What kid would not believe Walt Disney? :)

It's important that kids build confidence not on phony success but because they've actually mastered something. If they pursue an easy win, tell them you know they can do better.

More from Tom Foster:
https://www.inc.com/magazine/201703/tom-foster/raising-entrepreneurs.html

This is a conversation many parents can relate to:

Parent: “Time to brush your teeth”

Child: “Why?”

Parent: “So you don’t get cavities”

Child: “Why?”

(Tired) Parent: “Because I said so”

Read here is how you probably prefer it to be
https://medium.com//how-to-raise-happy-and-entrepreneurial-children-perspectives-from-a-silicon-valley-ceo-2d4a98522a44