Mike Smith:
Denise, how have your sons learned to function as leaders outside the home?

Denise Mira:
Well by nature, Mike, as a homeschooling mom it’s tempting for me to hover over and try to control all aspects of my children’s lives, but I’ve had to learn when to loosen my grip and allow them to have heroes outside of our home. I’m so grateful for the mentors that came along in different seasons and just took the time to impart something valuable to them, I think it’s helped shape them and prepare them for leadership. Another thing, we’ve always, as a family, been committed to our local church and this environment has provided so many opportunities for our sons to function in areas of service which I believe prepared them for leadership. Ushering, kids ministry, latte bars, janitorial, music team, wherever help was needed at the time. They were expected to carry the weight of responsibility while being accountable to others besides mom and dad and that was good for them. Once again, in this way, we opened our son’s lives to the influence of other godly men we trusted; men who would tell them the truth and deal with them like men. We also encouraged our sons to create jobs. They each found a creative way to earn spending money out of necessity, since we weren’t willing to provide all their “wants.” And this forced them into situations where they had to interact with adults, plan ahead, get there on time, follow through in order to create income. They learned to initiate, which is an earmark of a good leader.

Mike:
It’s great to see how you’ve encouraged your sons to be leaders, Denise. And until next time, I’m Mike Smith.