What’s The Best Way To Introduce Children To Entrepreneurial Education?
When a child is exploring different career options, encourage them to look beyond the conventional ones such as a doctor, engineer, architect, lawyer etc. Introduce them to the concept of entrepreneurship! Is their age making you hesitant to encourage them to think differently? Don’t let it bother you. Children may not be able to pronounce the word ‘entrepreneur’, but that does not mean they won’t be able to understand the concept. There’s no age for developing business skills in a person. In fact, the earlier you start, the better it is.
Let’s explore five simple steps that will help you convey the idea of entrepreneurship to children.
Teach Goal Setting
The importance of setting a goal must be conveyed to children at an early age. They must know how to identify their interest and make it a goal. Ask kids to list out 10 things they want to achieve. Let it be an open-ended question. Make sure they write down everything. According to a survey conducted by Harvard Business School, people are more likely to achieve their goals when they write them down. So, however small or big the goals may be, encourage them to write them down.
Teach Opportunity Recognition
Most people fail to achieve their goals not because they lack the capabilities, but because they don’t recognise the opportunities around them. A good way to make children understand this is to appreciate kids whenever they identify a problem. Brainstorm possible solutions and help them arrive at a workable one. Get them into the habit of a solution-focused approach whenever they are faced with a problem. Allow them to come up with creative solutions to their problems. This will teach them that every problem definitely has a solution. They just have to make an effort to find it.
Make Them Financially Literate
Yes, children should be taught about finances. They may take some time to understand money matters, but it is good to start early. You can start with simple things like encouraging them to earn their pocket money and then teach them to buy things that they need. Observe their spending pattern and guide them into getting things that will help them earn more. Teach them about saving their earnings for a rainy day. This can be done by putting a limit on the amount they are allowed to spend in a day. Once this becomes a habit, children will start being careful about how much money they’re spending and on what.
Teach Them To Embrace Mistakes
Unlike in school, failure is not to be frowned upon in a journey towards entrepreneurship. Teach children to embrace their mistakes and learn from them. Let them not fear going wrong. Whenever they make a mistake, help them identify where they went wrong instead of making them feel embarrassed. Train their minds to see every failure as an opportunity to do better. Failure should not stop them from trying new things in their entrepreneurial journey later in life. Make every effort to eliminate the fear of failure.
Teach The Art of Giving
When brainstorming ideas to make money, tell children about the importance of giving back to society as well. Give them an opportunity to be a part of charitable organisations where they learn to help, make an impact or bring about change. Kids must know that for any business to succeed, it needs to be associated with a greater cause that can positively impact a larger section of society.
Shaping an entrepreneur is all about developing the right attitude in children. Nurture their aptitude, courage and positive outlook on life – the right recipe to become an entrepreneur.
