Teach Kids Entrepreneurship in 5 Easy

Teaching Kids Entrepreneurship Is Our Best Parenting Advice

 

To teach kids entrepreneurship is some of the best parenting advice I have ever been given.

We’re so trained to follow the herd that we fail to think outside of the box. Case in point- we don’t teach kids entrepreneurship.

What does that say about us? Does it mean that the only picture we have of our children is as employees? Is obtaining a safe and secure job the ultimate goal in life?

My passion for raising strong minded children who are capable and bright minded led me to start my little passion project. It’s a platform where we share top rated parenting advice, tips and tricks and have a focus on looking at the famous, celebrity and entrepreneurial parents of the world and how they are raising their kids! It was from one of these parents where I got the idea of teaching kids entrepreneurship from a young age!

Why? Because in doing so, children are able to appreciate and respect money, explore possibilities, push their boundaries, develop skills and think creatively. Overall great things for kids to take into their adult life!

Ultimately it is not the idea about our children being an entrepreneur that excites me, but the tremendous changes in their attitude and perspective and what it opens up for them in their future years.

I hope this has piqued your interest. If you are wondering how to teach your kids entrepreneurship we’ve got you covered.

 

5 Ways to Teach Kids Entrepreneurship

There are many ways by which you can introduce children to the idea of entrepreneurship. Let’s start from the basics and tackle the skills required to make a good entrepreneur.

Sifting through various parenting advice research we have compiled a set of 5 effective steps and activities that can teach kids entrepreneurship.

 

Set An Example

As with anything the best way to learn is to show your kids how it can be done. Children born in business families are exposed to the workings of their organization from an early age.

This does not mean that you need to be an entrepreneur in order to teach kids entrepreneurship.

The best parenting advice we can give is to sow the seeds of success in your kids.  Show them ideals such as working hard, learning from mistakes, being patient and persisting. Teaching your kids to “try until they succeed,” is a mantra that will help them throughout their entire lives.

 

 Activities: Organize a garage or bake sale with your kids.  Involve them right from the start with  planning the saleable items, organizing materials, setting prices and marketing the products. Besides being a fun family activity, it helps children learn the nitty-gritty of setting up and then conducting a venture.

 

Instill Financial Literacy

Teach kids about money! Saving, investing, cost, compound interest, profit and loss.

These terms should be understood and roll off your kids tongues if you wish to teach kids entrepreneurship.  Financial literacy forms the backbone of a good entrepreneur and is a great concept to teach your children. When children associate money with hard work, they begin to appreciate it better.

 

Activities:

• Use a piggy bank to teach kids about savings.
• Encourage children to purchase their own toys and/or devices. They can earn money by performing odd jobs around the house. Include cleaning out the garage, mowing the lawn, weeding the gardens and so on. Doing these manual activities can teach children the value of hard work and costs of their labor.
• To teach kids about value try to involve them in regular shopping. Get them to compare prices of similar products, cost their favorite snacks and even keep track of weekly spending.

 

Facilitate Exploration

A great way to teach kids entrepreneurship is to encourage them to explore, to ask questions, find solutions and identify opportunities around them. Entrepreneurs don’t wait for someone to find a solution for them, they get out there and take action to find a solution themselves. As parents we can get caught up in doing everything for our kids and making them a little less self sufficient then they should be.

So if you want to teach them entrepreneurial skills engage them in discussions to stimulate their analytical and problem solving skills.

 

Activities:

• Play a game of “if I could be an entrepreneur I would ” and ask your child to pick a role. In addition to the job, they should describe the product/service they intend to market, their targeted audience and how they plan to achieve their goal.
• Introduce your children to business owners willing to share their experiences.
• Create business related scenarios and challenge your children to find solutions for it.

 

SMART Goal Setting

Teach kids how to set and achieve S.M.A.R.T (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timely) goals.  Goal setting is the number 1 best parenting advice to teach kids entrepreneurship skills.

A way to do this is to help your child write down three goals or objectives along with a deadline for each goal.

They then list 4-5 key steps/actions to accomplish each individual goal.  Encourage children to put their action plan into practice, provide support and direct them towards goal attainment.

 

Activity: Ask your child to write a sample business plan for a craft activity, gardening venture or a bake sale.

 

Using SMART goal setting, help them breakdown their main objective (eg. a bake sale) into smaller goals.  Decide on the products, buy ingredients, bake the goods and ensure to have a marketing strategy.

Have actions for each goal.  For instance, getting ingredients, the actions will be to write down the list of ingredients required, go to the supermarket and purchase them.

Writing down the plan gives clarity and strengthens the child’s commitment towards attaining goals.

 

Success Building Skills

An enterprise is successful only if it is managed well.  This requires synchronised, coordinated and collaborative efforts of everyone within the organisation from ground level to the top.

To teach kids entrepreneurship you need to prepare them to work within a team and potentially even manage one. This means they need to learn good communication skills, improve writing skills, have the ability to learn from failures and overall be a valuable member of society.

Our best parenting advice is that attainment of these skills will set a true entrepreneur apart from others.

 

Activities: Encourage children to participate in team sports, gardening, music or dance classes.  These will help them learn the value of practice, patience, persistence and teamwork.

 

Maybe volunteer for charitable activities or help out at an old age home to learn the value of giving to others.

“Failure is the stepping stone to success“

This is a powerful message to have your children live by. When children make mistakes, they learn to reflect, analyze and self-regulate their behavior and actions.  This will allow them to gain confidence in themselves and their abilities.

When you teach kids entrepreneurship you are not just opening doors to possibilities.  You are equipping them with valuable life skills and helping to bring about a positive change in their attitude towards life. To quote Winston Churchill “Attitude is a little thing which makes a big difference.”

 This is why teaching kids entrepreneurship early in life happens to be one of the best pieces of parenting advice that I have come across too!