While the measures of success vary from person to person, certain traits are common among successful people. Help your kids build a solid foundation for achieving their individual goals as well as a lifetime of happiness and mental wellness.

Help your kids develop inherent kindness and build self-confidence

  • Kindness. Enables confidence, fosters emotional control, encourages people around them to act in kind with good deeds and positive contributions, and leads to choosing friends with similar attributes.
  • Autonomy. Empowers children to have confidence and control while developing trust in others’ abilities.
  • Decision-making. Develop an understanding of being responsible for self actions and regulate impulsive behaviors.

Get involved in the community and emphasize service

There are many daily opportunities that will empower your kids to develop these characteristics over time. Allow children to make and learn from their own decisions – from creating and completing their homework to do list, to serving the family dinner and proposing topics to discuss during the meal. Build upon those activities with opportunities outside the home that are centered around community, service and problem solving. Volunteer activities instill kindness for others, teach responsibility to fulfill commitments, and offer a chance to see how individual work can impact others in a positive way.

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Tips From A Mother Who Raised 2 CEOs and 1 Professor

Esther Wojcicki is a mother, grandmother and educator. She raised three daughters, each of whom achieved phenomenal success within their careers:

  • Susan Wojcicki, CEO, YouTube. Susan was involved in the founding of Google, became Google’s first marketing manager in 1999, and was elevated to SVP in 2010. She took the helm at YouTube in 2014.
  • Janet Wojcicki, Professor of Pediatrics, Stanford University.
  • Anne Wojcicki, Co-Founder and CEO, 23andMe. Anne co-founded 23andMe in 2006, co-founded Breakthrough Prize, and in 2021 merged 23andMe with a SPAC founded by Richard Branson.

Teach Kids the Value of Service

Esther has been a keynote speaker at public engagements where she emphasizes key characteristics that were important to the professional success her daughters achieved:

  • Teach your kids to care
  • Community service is important
  • Prioritize service and purpose
Source: Tedx Talks

RECOMMENDED READING

How to Raise Successful People

Henry Cloud

About How to Raise Successful People

Summary. This book offers advice on how parents can help their children become independent and self-motivated. Author Esther Wojcicki stresses a few simple techniques centered on helping kids develop trust, respect, independence, collaboration, and kindness.

Reviews. A great book to help parents with self reflection and an easy read that is also worth sharing as a gift for other new parents. Some reviewers feel that while the book is filled with too much self-promotion by the author, the overall message remains valuable for parents.

Top Image Credit: Gerd Altmann | Pixabay