May 1, 2015
Creating Leaders

Dear Dr. Laura, 

As a middle school teacher, I can tell you how parents can make sure their children will never be leaders: 

1. Make excuses for homework not being completed, and make excuses/blame the teacher for their child's misbehavior. 


2. Let them watch endless TV or play endless video games. 


3. Give them a phone. 


4. Allow them to have nothing to do after school, and make sure it is not supervised. 


5. Don't talk to them about local/world politics, local events, finances, individual behaviors. 

All of these contribute to children who can't follow schedules or complete tasks, and have no sense of accountability or responsibility for a task or personal behavior.  

The students who are successful are the ones whose parents: 

1. Hold them to task: completing homework, and enforcing consequences at home when dealing with school misbehavior. 


2. Have some kind of after school supervision: homework club at school/sports/scouts/music. 


3. Have limited electronic time, usually as a privilege after chores/homework is completed. 


4. Spend time together as a family, so the idea of being 'face to face' with other people is valuable. 


5.  Engage in meaningful conversations with their children....about the world, their city, finances, hard work, being a responsible student and responsible citizen. 

There's my two cents. 

Good wishes, 

Ophira

Posted by Staff at 10:58 AM