Although attitudes are steadily changing from the old way of thinking that all children had to go to school, study hard, go to college, study harder, and then come out and land themselves a good job, the school system hasn’t quite caught up and attitudes are also not quite where they need to be just yet – we do have faith that they’re getting there, though.
In the meantime, though, what do you do when your child is displaying entrepreneurial traits and interests? The fact is, school just isn’t for everyone. That doesn’t mean school is a waste of time or that your child shouldn’t be encouraged to try their best, but if they’re not suited to the traditional academic education, then don’t force it.
Many famous people such as Steve Jobs, Richard Branson, and even Albert Einstein openly admitted many times that they hugely struggled in school and that it just wasn’t for them. Yet these are some of the most respected and well-known people who we look to as creative geniuses, so clearly their lack of academic ability didn’t really do them any harm when you look at the types of careers they’ve enjoyed.
If your child is showing an interest in entrepreneurship, then this is something you should probably support – even if you feel it’s unrealistic, because you simply never know what can come from keeping an open mind, and your support could actually be the thing that helps them most.
You’ll also find that, if you support and listen to your child, then you’ll be in a much better position to talk with them about things like perhaps getting a bridge or part time job to help them earn money that they can use to fund their business goals.
Nowadays, with things like social media and the internet, it’s actually never been an easier or better time to become an entrepreneur or start a business, and many people from all ends of the age spectrum are doing just that and making a huge success of it – it’s definitely something that can be considered one of the main social media positive effects since it provides them with so much opportunity and the ability to connect with other like minded people from all over the world to show them and inspire them as to what’s really possible for them.
Even if you don’t fully like the idea of your child becoming an entrepreneur, you can simply encourage him through open and honest communication so that he will come to you if there are any challenges he faces along the way.
It’s important to show our kids that we support their dreams and believe in their abilities even if we’d personally rather they took another path.
Ways you can support him include:
- Buying him books on business and entrepreneurship
- Helping him look for courses he can take on entrepreneurship
- Connecting him with mentors
- Teaching him about business, marketing, finance and how to budget, do taxes and all that other fun financial and administrative stuff
This post contains affiliate links
