And the Winner Is….

Talk about a popular product! I received over 200 entries for the LeapFrog Tag Reading System giveaway. So with no further ado, the winner is….

Oh, who am I kidding? We’ve all watched enough American Idol and Dancing with the Stars to know that the winners are never announced that easily! Instead, let’s take a moment and talk about leadership.

A recent study found that children who break rules are more likely to become leaders — IF they have parents who view rule breaking as a teaching opportunity. The study, published in The Leadership Quarterly, divided juvenille infractions into two catergories: “modest rule breaking” (such as breaking windows and family and school offenses) and “serious rule breaking” (any drug use, serious crime or offense that leads to police involvement). Interesting Parenting Nugget #1: Minor offenses do not necessarily lead to major offenses.

The study then examined parents’ responses to rule-breaking. Interesting Parenting Nugget #2: What you do matters. The researchers found that an authoritative parenting style, one where parents have clear expectations regarding behavior but still allow children to test the rules, may help children assume leadership roles later in life.

Listen:
“When individuals challenge the status quo or boundaries of authority/rules early in life they
can stand to learn a lot from these experiences if their parents help them understand why the actions they chose are problematic and more importantly how the individuals can achieve the desired goals in ways that do not involve breaking rules. That is, parents can arm their children with more effective strategies for achieving their goals.”
http://www.rotman.utoronto.ca/newthinking/rotundoleadership.pdf

Think about that the next time your son misbehaves: The goal isn’t to get him to do what you want him do. The goal is to help him understand why his choice was not the best choice, and to help him figure out what he could have done instead.

More work? Maybe. Worth it? Absolutely.

And now, the winner is….

GiGi! Congratulations, GiGi. You’re the winner of the LeapFrog Tag Reading System. I’ll be contacting you shortly. Thanks to everyone who participated. I really appreciate your tweets, follows and comments and look forward to hearing from you in the future.