Often, parents don’t know how to teach their children leadership skills. How can this be done practically? Today, on Home School Heartbeat, HSLDA President Mike Smith talks with Dr. Jeff Myers about teaching your children to be effective communicators.
Mike Smith:
Most parents would like to teach their children to be confident public speakers. Do you have any suggestions for how parents can actually do this, Jeff?
Jeff Myers:
Well, Mike as you know, the number one fear of people is the fear of public speaking, even more than the fear of death. And I think parents and teens can make a study of being better communicators, which is why I created the Secrets of Great Communicators video course. But I don’t think we have to wait until kids are teenagers to work on this. We can start when they’re small. The first thing is, to cultivate their ability to talk with others in a social setting. In our family we practice social situations before we get into them. We ask our children to think through what they might be facing, questions that they might want to ask other people, how they can be a blessing in that situation. Of course, being chatty doesn’t mean you are a good communicator so the second thing is also really important and that is focusing on moving other people to action. One of my daughters wanted to earn extra money so she let folks know that she was willing to take care of their pets while they were on vacation. Now, she had to ask them for their business, she had to ask about the needs of the pet, she had to ask them for payment, she had to swallow a lot of fear to do this, but once she did, she became noticeably more confident in talking with adults. So those two things, learning to talk with others graciously, learning to move people to action, those are the seeds of great communication.
Mike:
Well, Jeff, thank you for that great advice. And until next time, I’m Mike Smith.
