Teaching your child leadership skills

Help your child acquire important leadership skills by teaching and encouraging her to practice other related skills. It’s important for her to have the right attitude and motivation to learn. She also has to be willing to interact and collaborate with others. Here are five things you can do to help your child develop these skills.

Self-esteem is the picture that your child has of herself. This will affect her ability to develop leadership qualities and succeed. Give her praise and affirmation for her efforts. Nurture and highlight her strengths, abilities, and achievements to build her self-esteem.

Encourage your child to become involved in activities that will build her self-confidence. Participation in clubs and organizations like scouting or sports is very helpful, and there are opportunities for leadership at various levels. Similarly, encourage to your child to volunteer and offer community service where there are opportunities to build her leadership skills.

Encourage your child to express herself and to communicate clearly and correctly. Teach her to be attentive to what others are saying, so that she can understand their perspectives and develop empathy. Similarly, help her to become assertive, to state her point of view clearly, and to express her own needs using “I” statements. Make sure that as your child speaks, you acknowledge what she says.

Encourage your child to set goals, work at achieving them, and learn from the experiences. This will help her to know what she wants and what she needs to do to achieve it. Help her to start with small manageable goals: for example, completing her school project on her own. As she achieves the goals she sets, her confidence grows.

You want your child to responsible and exhibit qualities such as showing respect for others, being honest, and standing up for what she believes in. These leadership skills come with practice. As a parent, you can use an everyday experience to foster responsibility in your child. Give your child responsibility: for example, age-appropriate chores to be completed daily. Then hold her accountable to complete them. Be sure the chores should be manageable, so as not to frustrate your child.

Problem solving is one of the most necessary leadership skills. Spend time talking to your child about various subjects at an age-appropriate level, to help her to think critically. Encourage your child to talk about the problems she faces, then brainstorm different ways to solve the problem. Be sure to give your child the encouragement and support she needs throughout the process of brainstorming, choosing solutions, and evaluation, but allow her to take more leadership as she gets older.