A parent is a team leader.
When parents lead their team with love, acceptance, and a sense of what is best for each individual and the team, they create a strong team of support, care, love, and guidance.
On the other hand, if parents have narrow perspectives about what is right or good, if they lead with competition rather than collaboration, or are focused solely on themselves, then the team suffers and there is little capacity to strengthen one another.
I always love to read stories about strong families and communities--the kind that work together to support and bolster one another's lives. Gladwell talks about this in his inspiring book, Outliers. I want to create similar respect and camaraderie amongst my own children too. I know there is strength in that.
Ways that I try to support this sense of a strong team include the following:
When parents lead their team with love, acceptance, and a sense of what is best for each individual and the team, they create a strong team of support, care, love, and guidance.
On the other hand, if parents have narrow perspectives about what is right or good, if they lead with competition rather than collaboration, or are focused solely on themselves, then the team suffers and there is little capacity to strengthen one another.
I always love to read stories about strong families and communities--the kind that work together to support and bolster one another's lives. Gladwell talks about this in his inspiring book, Outliers. I want to create similar respect and camaraderie amongst my own children too. I know there is strength in that.
Ways that I try to support this sense of a strong team include the following:
- Family gatherings
- Good communication
- Acceptance of each individual's talents, interests, choices, and drive
- A willingness to support each person's challenges, and to provide help when I'm able to do that
- Openness with regard to challenges, weaknesses, abilities, and inabilities
- Respect and love
To live well in today's world demands a sense of team, and families are a natural source of teamwork. Yet, some families for all kinds of reasons cannot fulfill this need, and that's why many create families made up of loved ones from all different parts of their life and experiences.
As a parent, it's integral to create a good sense of team amongst your children, the kind of team that supports one another well. If possible, it's best to broaden this team too with other family members and friends. If we do this, we'll be able to profit from that strong team when our children or others take the helm. This is important to good living.