Leadership skills are not inherited; they are learned through training. The first training ground we find ourselves is home, which is the smallest unit of any society. When you develop the most important and good leadership skills and the right character at home, you indirectly develop the society and the world at large. Home is the earliest place to learn and develop the skills of leadership. Proverbs 22:5 says: “Train up a child in the way he should go, Even when he is old he will not depart from it.”
The failure in leadership originated from the failure of the parents to take time to develop the leadership skills in their children. One of the core responsibilities of parents is to bring out the leadership capacities in their children. The parents have the capacity to influence their children and bring out the leader in them.
These are the most important and good leadership skills that children can develop at home
Accountability
An art of being answerable to someone is called Accountability. As a leader, you must have someone that you must be giving the account of happenings in your life. First of all, we should be thankful and responsible to God for the life He gave us. And respectively “each of us will give an account of ourselves to God” (Romans 14:12).
Accountability keeps one in check, there are many irrational decisions one may be prompted to take, but if you are answerable to someone, you will think twice before taking such decision. The best place to learn such skill is home. Parents must instill in their children this leadership skill in order to be a worthy leader. The parent must live by example in terms of being accountable with time, money and relationship. If parents can influence their children in this way, it will help them avoid riotous living and thereby grow with the ability to keep in check their actions and behaviors. Since they know, they will surely give an account of their actions.
Discipline
Discipline is the virtue of suppressing ambition or desire in order to achieve a goal. It is making a conscious decision to do or not to do a particular thing and at the same time see to the enforcement of such decision without wavering.
Discipline is a hallmark of leadership. A leader must be someone who can set a goal, pursue it with the help of God and achieve it. In life, there are many distractions to detract one from his or her goal. It takes discipline to stay focused. Naturally, most children tend to go their way, do whatever they feel and cannot often stick to a goal. It is now the responsibility of the parents to train their children to be disciplined. They need to train them to be disciplined in terms of spending. Children often suffer from the see-and-buy syndrome. It requires that the parents strive to curb that attitude and train them to be disciplined in spending. Other areas discipline can be applied are eating habits, sleep and many other areas.
Can Do Attitude
Being positive about situations is what is common to all real leaders. A leader is someone who sees opportunity in every situation and believes he or she can go through it with the help of God. A real leader must believe in God, be responsible to Him and to other people.
This skill needs to be learned thoroughly and mastered right in the home. Have you met someone who suffers from an inferiority complex? Such person rarely believes they can do something positive on their own. Parents need to train their children to believe in themselves and never to look down on themselves.
As a parent, encourage your children never to use the word “I can’t”. This may require that parents devise means to boost the confidence of their children. And make them realize that no one is better than them. Instill in them notion that if someone can achieve a particular feat, they can achieve more. I must say here that parents need to guide against negative words towards their children. Because words get to children easily and any negative words can deflate their confidence level.
Responsibility
Responsibility is an art of accepting duty and task. It is an art of responding to God-given ability. This is one of the most important leadership skills.
Have not seen a true leader who lacks responsibility skill. In fact, a call to leadership is a call to serve which invariably means responsibility. And this responsibility first of all is to God and other people. It can never be overemphasized the importance of learning this skill right from home.
One of the problems of leadership this age is suffering from is the problem of leaders who missed the class of responsibility from home. Parents have got a lot to do to help their children to develop this skill. “Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it” (Proverbs 22:6).
You can start early enough by giving a certain task to your little child. And demand that he or she accept the duty with the spirit of responsibility. Expose them to training at home, such as some house chores, looking after their younger ones and many other little things, which will consequently create in them a sense of responsibility. As a parent, you can influence your children with can-do attitude by giving them responsibilities that can stretch them to limit sometimes, but you must be there to guide and encourage them.
Diligence
Diligence is having the spirit of tenacity and excellence in all that one does. This makes a leader to strive for mastery and to be on top of his or her game. This skill can be learned right from home. Parents need to train their wards to run away from the enemy called average. And to make excellence their watchword. Of course, no excellence without diligence and no diligence without hard work. Children must be trained to shun any act of indolence. If any child grows up with a lifestyle of laziness of nonchalant attitude, such a child cannot grow to be a true leader.
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