Want to Raise Successful Kids? Use These 10 Work-Related Skills
Pursuing a prosperous career can be highly gratifying and enjoyable. However, many successful business people struggle with balancing work and family life, and experience feelings of guilt and stress.
With the widespread stereotype of career driven and success hungry people who neglect their children, it has become a common belief that one simply cannot be both a successful worker and a good parent.
Yet, it is totally possible for high-performing workers to pursue a flourishing career while embracing the delights of raising and loving their children.
Skills gained from work experience can turn out to be the most useful abilities you need to provide your kids an exemplary education and ensure them a bright future.
Many parents who are dedicated to their occupation and who have prosperous careers are concerned with raising successful children. While there is no magic recipe for bringing up successful kids, psychology research has pointed several factors that predict favorable outcome.
Parents Raise Successful Kids by Doing These 9 Things
American researchers recommend parents do these 9 things to help their kids achieve desired aims.
Source : https://www.inc.com/christina-desmarais/want-to-raise-kids-who-thrive-science-says-do-thes.html
Setting Realistic Goals
It is important not to tell kids they can become anything they want. Numerous children aspire to be artists, athletes, video games designers, or musicians. However, these kinds of jobs currently represent a very low percentage of occupations in America. In the years to come, many jobs in health care or in construction trades will be available. Researchers advise parents to encourage their kids set more realistic goals, and to look for jobs where workforce is most required.
Having Dinner as a Family
According to a non-profit organization operating out of Harvard University, children who eat dinner with their family on a regular basis show lower levels of drug abuse, obesity, depression, and teen pregnancy. These kids also have higher grades and more self-esteem. Having dinner as a family as often as possible can therefore be a good way to set children up for success.
Limiting Screen Time
Limiting screen time is essential to ensure kids have a normal intellectual development. In fact, researchers have found that the brains of little kids can be permanently altered if they spend too much time using smart phones and tablets or watching television. Too much exposure to these devices can impair the development of certain abilities such as focus and attention, social skills, and vocabulary. The American Academy of Pediatrics points out children under 18 months should have no screen time at all. Exposure to digital devices must be limited to one hour a day for kids ages two to five. Parents should also make sure media does not take the place of exercise, social interaction, and adequate sleep for older children.
Source: http://www.laportelibrary.org/new-media-recommendations-for-children/
Working Outside the Home
Reseachers at Harvard Business School have found that when mothers have jobs outside the home, their daughters are " more likely to be employed themselves, hold supervisory roles, and make more money than peers whose mothers did not have careers. "
Chores
According to a study conducted by researchers from Harvard Medical School, youngsters who do chores are more likely to achieve great professional success. Parents should therefore encourage their kids to help with domestic duties.
Delaying Gratification
Parents who want to raise successful kids should apply "delayed gratification". This concept is clearly illustrated this concept by the Marshmallow Experiment, a series of studies led in the late 1960s and early 1970s by Stanford University psychologists.
The famous experiment consisted in placing a marshmallow in front of young children, with the promise of a second one if they could refrain from eating the treat while the researcher left the room for 15 minutes. Follow-up studies over the next 40 years found that the children who had resisted the temptation grew up to be more socially adapted, better able to deal with stress, and less obese. They obtained higher scores at standardized tests for college admissions, and exhibited a lower incidence of substance abuse.
Sources : https://www.apa.org/helpcenter/willpower-gratification.pdf
http://story.fund/post/115339476301/the-marshmallow-experiment-what-happens-when-you
Parents can help children build the ability to delay gratification by training them to have habits that must be achieved every day, even if they do not feel like doing them. Youngsters should be encouraged to consider the future benefits of their actions instead of seeking instant reward.
Reading
Parents can help their kids become successful by reading to them. In fact, researchers at the New York University School of Medicine have found that babies whose parents read to them have better language, literacy, and early reading skills before starting elementary school. Young children who like books grow into people who read for pleasure. According to Dr. Alice Sullivan, director of the 1970 British Cohort Study ( a continuing, multi-disciplinary survey monitoring the development of babies born in the U.K. during a single week of 1970), reading for fun is linked to greater intellectual progress in spelling, vocabulary, and mathematics.
Sources:http://www.cls.ioe.ac.uk/page.aspx?&sitesectionid=795&sitesectiontitle=Welcome+to+the+1970+British+Cohort+Study
https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/er/SNHEnglishWebsite/useful-information/the-importance-of-reading/
Travel
Parents should consider the benefits of traveling with their kids. A survey conducted by The Student and Youth Travel Association in the United States reveals that travels affect students in many positive ways :
- Increased tolerance of other cultures and ethnicities
- Increased willingness to know, learn, and explore
- Increased independence, self-esteem, and confidence
- More intellectual curiosity
- Better adaptability and sensitivity
- Better self-expression
- Increased attractiveness to college admissions
These skills can significantly help children obtain academic and professional success.
Experiencing Failure
Parents can help their children succeed by letting them experience failure. According to Dr. Stephanie O'Leary, a psychologist specializing in neuropsychology, defeat helps youngsters learn to cope with the realities of life, and provides them the necessary experience to relate to peers in a genuine way.
Children who have experienced failure will build resilience and be more willing to attempt difficult tasks over time. Being challenged will also help them understand the importance of hard work and sustained efforts to succeed in their educational and professional lives.
Using 10 Skills From Work to Raise Successful Kids
The previous tips may at first seem hard to apply to everyday life, especially for busy working parents. However, professional experience can actually facilitate many aspects of your life, namely the way you interact with your children.
The following ten skills gained from work experience can help you raise joyful and successful kids.
1. Communication Skills
The ability to communicate effectively with superiors and colleagues is essential in any workplace. Workers in the digital age know how to effectively send and receive messages in person as well as via email, social media, and phone. Good communication skills help you get hired, be promoted, and achieve specific professional goals.
Being a good communicator allows you to develop strategies to better listen and talk to your children. It also gives you the ability to notice when your kids are most likely to talk. Starting a conversation with your children lets them know you care about what is happening in their lives, and allows you to learn about their interests. Communication is the key to a healthy connection between parents and children.
Being able to discuss openly with your kid allows you to address important subjects related to their future, such as the importance of looking for jobs where workforce is most needed. You can also easily talk to them about the benefits of traveling, the importance of helping with domestic duties, and the advantages of reading.
As a good communicator, you also set an example for your kids. They will most likely grow up to be articulate people with good verbal and written communication skills, which will help them succeed in their academic and professional lives.
2. Confidence
Essentially, confidence is the appreciation of your abilities and qualities, the knowledge of what you are good at. At work, self-assurance is critical to be a successful employee. Managers benefit from confident employees because they are more productive and make good role models.
Teaching your kids to feel good about themselves will set them up for success. In fact, self-confident kids will more likely try new challenges, deal with mistakes, and persevere. Taking pride in their achievements and abilities motivate kids to do their best and to aim for success.
3. Creativity
Studies have recently found that creativity is one of the top skills companies are looking for in their employees. Businesses struggle to innovate and to differentiate themselves in an increasingly competitive world, and they rely on creative workers to come up with new concepts and ideas.
Being creative can facilitate the way you balance your professional and family lives. In her article Balancing Parenting and Work Stress: A Guide, Daisy Wademan Dowling explains that a creative thinker can come up with "an unusual but happy child care arrangement that accommodates their frequent last-minute business travel. "
Source : https://hbr.org/2017/03/balancing-parenting-and-work-stress-a-guide
As a creative person, you can encourage your children to come up with new ideas. It gives them confidence, and reinforces your relationship
make it easier for you to reduce the time they spend using digital devices , as they will have plenty of ideas of other activities.
Teaching your kids to be creative enables them to step out of their comfort zone to keep learning and growing. It will be easier for them to experience failure, because they will know how to use their creativity to solve problems and to overcome major setbacks.
4. Interpersonal Skills
Also known as people skills, interpersonal skills can be defined as the way you interact with others.
People with good interpersonal skills tend to be able to work well in a team. They are able to communicate effectively and to maintain good relationships with colleagues, superiors, and customers.
Children often need guidance interacting with others appropriately, and having good interpersonal skills allows you to help them develop good relationships.
You can also teach your kids how to handle conflicts, and encourage them to identify and control their emotions. Knowing how to build good, long-lasting relationships is critical in achieving academic and professional goals.
Children who have acquired good interpersonal skills will experience failure more easily, because they will know how to handle the situation and control their emotions.
5. Leadership
Employees with strong leadership skills often excel in the workplace, because they can easily take charge of any situation. Every team needs a leader to provide guidance, so employees who take on this role are often highly esteemed by management.
As a parent, having good leadership aptitudes enables you to set boundaries, and to explain clearly why they exist.
Being a good leader allows you to guide your children adequately while letting them develop their own courage, initiative, and judgement.
By mirroring your behavior, your children will develop strong leadership skills as well. These aptitudes will later on help them pursue a prosperous career.
6. Open-Mindedness
Receptiveness to new ideas is critical to professional success. Managers appreciate employees who have a willingness to learn new notions and who respect different opinions.
Being open-minded shows that you have a cooperative attitude, and that you can adapt to new situations. As workplaces become more diverse, business owners and directors want their employees to show acceptance of different cultures, ethnicity, genders, and ages.
Encouraging your kids to be open-minded stimulates their intellectual curiosity, making it easier for them to gain critical knowledge .
In her article How to Raise a kid to Be Open-Minded, Nanette Richford explains that as a parent, teaching your child "to view the world through his own lens and making decisions based on reality instead of bias and prejudice is one of your most important jobs."
Source: http://living.thebump.com/raise-kid-openminded-17381.html
When your kids see you accepting people for who they are without criticism, they learn to accept others and to show interest in different beliefs and values.
Kids who have open-minded parents tend to be more interested in discovering different cultures, meeting new people, and visiting other countries. Open-mindedness can help children appreciate the benefits of travelling.
7. Organization
Organization is one of the most important job skills a worker can possess. Businesses need employees who can stay organized and focus on the projects at hand.
As a successful employee, you have to manage your files, plan your tasks ahead of time, determine the supplies you need on specific occasions, and organize the work of subordinates to ensure they are productive.
For a parent who works outside the home, life with kids can sometimes get a little chaotic. Using organizational skills gained from your work experience will undoubtedly help you maintain a peaceful household and avoid feeling overwhelmed.
Good organizational skills are also essential in balancing your professional and family lives.
Developing good organization skills is a key ingredient for success in school and in professional life.
As an organized worker, you can put routines and strategies in place at home to help your kids build this aptitude and get their lives under control.
8. Passion
People who are passionate about their work tend to be more successful and to move up the company ladder quickly.
Being a passionate parent will help you engage in effective communication practises with your kids and develop positive discipline strategies.
Encouraging your kids to be passionate about what they do will help them work hard and persevere to accomplish goals.
Having passion and enthusiasm are key for achieving success in school and in professional life.
Passionate youngsters usually have a positive attitude and an increased motivation to learn, because they have something in their life that they absolutely love to do.
9. Problem-Solving
Workers often have to deal with issues and unforeseen events. High-productive employees manage to work through problems on their own by using knowledge, facts, and data.
Workers who can think critically and creatively to solve problems are highly regarded by management.
At home, problems can arise on a daily basis. Methods that help you come up with solutions at work can be effectively applied to your family life.
Children often have problems with not getting what they want (a toy or an outing, for example). Problem-solving skills gained from work allow you to deal with an unhappy kid the way you would act towards a dissatisfied customer.
By taking the time to explain clearly to your children why their request is unworkable, the way you would clarify a client's expectations, you stimulate their critical thinking. Kids can thus analyze the situation to get a better understanding.
Encouraging your kids to develop problem-solving strategies improves their thinking abilities, which can help them through their academic journey.
Children who can handle challenges and issues will have no trouble finding a job in the future. In addition, kids who know how to cope with unexpected situations will overcome failure more easily.
10. Respect
High-performing workers respect their colleagues. They take an interest in each person and try to get to know them on a personal level.
Respectful employees value the opinions of their coworkers, even when they differ from their own.
By respecting your kids, you encourage them to be regardful of others. Being a respectful person allows you to teach qualities such as compassion, empathy, caring, and kindness to your children. With the increasing need for people to live in harmony with one another, these attributes are highly valued in schools and workplaces.
Global Success
Skills that have made you a successful employee are part of who you are as an individual, and can therefore help you in every aspect of your life.
Communication, confidence, creativity, interpersonal skills, leadership, open-mindedness, organization, passion, problem-solving, and respect are precious abilities that will set up your kids for success.
Building powerful aptitudes will allow you to pursue your dream career while enjoying every moment of the challenging and rewarding experience of raising children.
