RAISING CHILDREN: FROM TACTICS TO STRATEGY

Recently, I faced an issue where my 5-year-old son would make promises but fails to keep them. My wife and I talked to him about this several times, trying to explain how important it is to keep one’s word. However, the problem remained unresolved.

Then, one particular incident happened.

I had an important phone call, and my son was running and shouting near me, which was very distracting. I paused the call and asked him to stay quiet while I was on the phone. He promised he would.

But just a few minutes later, he started making noise again, and I had to step outside to finish the conversation.

Later, I was about to go grocery shopping, and the children asked me to buy some kiwis. That evening, as I was slicing the kiwis, my son and daughter came up and asked for a piece. I told them I would cut some and give it to them. I gave a piece to my daughter, and when my son asked, “Now my turn?” I replied that I had changed my mind and don’t want to give him any.

He exclaimed, “But you promised!” to which I replied:
“Why should I keep my promises if, in our family, it’s okay not to keep them?”

I reminded him of the recent incident during my phone call.

The next time I was on the phone and my son started to make noise, I reminded him about his promise. He responded, “Oh, right!” and ran off to play in another room.

Now, I can have my business calls in peace, and the children no longer disturb me during those times. But that wasn’t the end of the story.

This incident made me reflect more deeply on the goals I want to achieve in raising my children. Time passes, and children grow. This time can work to the benefit of both the children and the family as a whole, or it can work against us. Sometimes, a moment comes when missed opportunities are hard to recover.

From personal experience, I know that no company can succeed without a strategy. Since both a company and a family are groups working towards achieving common goals, I decided to draft my own strategy for raising my children for the coming year, just as I had successfully done for my company.

Here’s the strategy I developed:

1. Eliminate unhealthy sweets from their diet, replacing them with healthier options. Encourage the children to do regular exercise.
2. Ensure that each child has responsibilities within the family and fulfills them independently and responsibly. Discuss the dangers of drugs and alcohol with the children. Help each child set a long-term goal that requires at least a month of effort to achieve and assist them in working towards it.
3. Uncover at least one talent in each child and guide them in using this talent to produce results that benefit not only themselves but others as well.

Perhaps this strategy will also be useful and interesting to you.