6 Key Things Parents Can Do to Increase their Child’s Chances to Succeed

At BIZNOVATOR we empower the next generation of young entrepreneurs, social innovators and global leaders. The secret to our success is the consistent coaching and valuable insight we seek to provide to parents of aspiring children from as young as eight years old, through teen years. By providing parents with the tools and knowledge we have accumulated through years of delivering workshops, seminars, summer camps and in school programs, we believe we are helping to equip you to help your children make the right decisions as they grow and mature.

In this blog we focus on the 6 Key Things Parents Can Do to Increase their Child’s Chances to Succeed:

1. Have your children understand that in order to succeed they must develop discipline and good work ethic. Children need to be taught from an early age that succeeding and accomplishing goals takes discipline, hard work and a serious time commitment. With the pervasive nature of social media and other online platforms, children and teens see countless videos and examples of young people who look for shortcuts to realize success. Do any of these names a ring a bell? Zuckerberg, Dell, Jobs, Gates, Wang, Blakely, Winfrey, Sandberg, Combs, Carter, Bezos, Jordan, Brady. What do they all have in common? They are all men and women entrepreneurs, athletes and entertainers that worked extremely hard to make their dreams a success story.
2. Enjoy dinner with your children daily. A Harvard University non-profit partner found that children that dine with their parents daily, have lower risks in substance abuse, obesity, teen pregnancy, and depression. The study also shows, that they realized higher GPAs, vocabulary skills and increased self-esteem.
3. Reduce, remove or restructure their screen time. Researchers have found that younger children’s brain can be permanently altered due to spending too much time on screens, video games, social media and phones. American Academy of Pediatrics (APA) say that children’s ability to learn effectively is impeded and their social development reduced. It has been documented that too many hours of video gaming will reduce the benefits your children naturally receive through sleep. We recommend that the dinner table and the car become technology free zones. In addition, be sure to take your children’s electronic devices away at night before bedtime.
4. There’s nothing wrong with working. Give them chores, let them find jobs on their own, or start a micro venture. Does this sound old school? Well, it shouldn’t. For some reason, many of today’s parents have gotten away from expecting their children to work a job or do chores at home. These small chores become the building blocks that nurture a sense of accomplishment and accountability. Starting a mini business is an awesome opportunity for children to build strengths and skills. A Harvard Grant Study found that those who had the greatest level of professional success, were given chores to do at home at least 3 times per week. They also did their bed and kept their rooms tidy on a daily basis.
5. Travel with a purpose! One of my highest recommended activities, especially during the summer time is for children to serve others from the age of 8 through the teenage years. This can include travel both within the US and to countries in need. As children get older, international travel options become more abundant and when they travel to serve and impact the lives of others, it becomes the ultimate growth experience. For more information visit the Student and Youth Travel Association (SYTA). They are a leader on this subject. Their recent survey shows that US teachers credit travel as giving their students a myriad of benefits, including; 69% increase in independence and self-esteem; 73% increase in willingness to learn, explore and know. 74% of students who travel for the first time, want to keep traveling and impacting.
6. Let them fail (or face challenges). Contrary to what many parents believe, failing is good for kids. In fact, part of the issue today is that parents are grossly over protective! Allowing children to fail, gives them real world wake up calls! It teaches them to cope, to plan better and to learn from the mistakes they may have made and the obstacles they faced. When children fail it builds resilience and grit. We always want our BIZNOVATOR’s to learn from their mistakes and apply their new learnings. This will provide a better opportunity to success in the future.

For more information on our Summer Camps for Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Empowerment, please visit our website at https://www.biznovator.com/events/

ABOUT BIZNOVATOR:
BIZNOVATOR is a youth empowerment platform that offers a year-round experience for young people interested in entrepreneurship, social innovation and global leadership. Through our seminars, workshops, summer camps and in school Academies, BIZNOVATOR helps young people to DISCOVER their purpose, TRANSFORM their mindset and CONNECT to their future.  We have recently launched our Online Learning Platform, www.mybiznovator.com which enables young people from all over the world to experience our unique BIZNOVATOR programs. We invite you to join us!

Juan Pablo Casimiro is Founder and CEO of BIZNOVATOR. With more than 30 years of empowering youth and adults globally, Casimiro never misses a moment to teach, coach and challenge his clients to live their dreams. Casimiro was born in Dominican Republic and grew up in New York City.