Every parent wants their child to live a meaningful, happy, and successful life. As a mom to two young children, I recognize that they look to me for all the answers and are learning about life through their interactions with us as their parents, and from the dynamics of our family. This is a big responsibility to say the least! I am a strong believer that the young years are setting the foundation for a child’s life. I am practicing (key word: practicing) to parent intentionally to lead my children to be independent and lead meaningful lives, and I will share my discoveries on some ways to go about doing that here on IdentiFly Leadership. Like I have, go ahead and add mentor to the many hats you wear, mom and dad!
According to research done by Angela Duckworth and others, successful individuals share a common characteristic, they have GRIT. Grit is passion for a purposeful goal and the perseverance to overcome obstacles when faced with adversity as an individual pursues after their goal. Grit, like most skills, will not just switch on when it matters in the later years as our children face obstacles academically, socially, and in their extracurriculars. This fact combined with the reality of how extremely crucial grit is for people to reach their goals and sustain success has caused me to go on this quest of intentionally raising my children to develop grit. Join me on this parenting journey! We need to help our children develop grit for them to have a chance for success and happiness as they grow and reach from their own dreams.
As a mentor to students and athletes striving for success in sport, academics, and life, I see firsthand how crucial grit is to achievement and overall happiness. I have also spent time considering how I can best prepare my own children to be successful come their adolescent and young adult lives.
The question is, how, as a parent, can I help my children develop grit?
First, as parents, we need to also see ourselves as mentors to our children. A crucial role of mentors is that individuals are looking at them as a model of who they can become. If we want our children to be gritty, we must be gritty. If we want our children to be happy, we must express optimism. If we want our children to set goals and strive to achieve them, we must continue to set goals for ourself!
We also must find a good balance of supporting our children and also a healthy level of demand. Authoritative style of parenting helps children to become both gritty and happy. To support your children with love, to set reasonable limits, and to encourage them to pursue their dreams.
We want to encourage and inspire our children to chase after their passions, dreams and goals, not our goals and dreams. At times, we need to remind ourselves to take step back, to listen to their heart, and let them take steps toward their interests. As parents and mentors to our children, it’s important to nurture their talents, interests, and abilities, as this will lead to happiness and confidence, and an environment where our children can develop and demonstrate grit.
We are our children’s first mentors. A foundation is being set during their littlest years, and they are developing habits and character traits that can benefit them for a lifetime! We can model grit, parent in a way that produces happy and gritty people, and ultimately, support and care for our kids as they identify their interests and talents in their pursuit toward their unique goals and dreams.