How To Build Leadership Qualities In Your Child

Have you heard an infant wail to be fed or changed? The authority in their tone sends every parent scrambling. They make sure their demands are met – sometimes the parent gets it right the first time, sometimes they just have to keep trying until they get it! Often, it takes teamwork. Maybe the grandparents have to get involved. Other times, it’s a friend or a call to the doctor. Whatever it is, it gets figured out. Because the leader doesn’t give up, and ensures Team Parent gets the job done to his satisfaction.

- Deepma Jadeja

Have you been around an infant that is enjoying herself? Every little sound and action draws us in, and makes us smile! But, she’s happy for herself, not for our entertainment. She depends on applause from within rather than outside.

Have you been around a toddler who’s learning to walk? He stumbles, laughs, cries, and keeps failing until he finally gets it. The adults laughing at him rarely deter him. He isn’t walking for them – he’s learning for himself. Giving-up isn’t a part of his vocabulary yet.

We don’t have to teach a child to be a leader. We just have to nurture their natural ability to stay one. Here are 6 easy ways to do just that:

• READ to them- When they’re infants, toddlers, preschoolers, all the way to their teens! I’m serious. I’ve raised two kids who I read to and who read to me through their teenage years. We actually read The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde together, and it remains one of our happiest memories!