Lessons in Parenting and Raising Entrepreneurs From ‘Losing My Virginity’
Branson mentions that his mother would leave him a few miles away from the home and then let him find his own way back to the house. Once when Branson was still under twelve, he was asked to cycle for 50 miles alone to visit a relative. His mother just packed him some food and asked him to find water on the way. To his own surprise, Branson made it through the journey. As he came back home, he anticipated high fives on his achievement. Instead his mother rushed him off to chop logs.
I like Branson’s parents’ style and it is kind of my style too. I personally refuse to believe that children are incompetent and vulnerable people that we need to label ‘handle with care’ with. Whenever I have challenged Little B with a task a little too much for her age, she has rose up to the occasion. If not, she has tried it so many times (out of her own will to win) to eventually master it.
If we have to give just one single value to our children, according to me, that value should be that of independence and self-reliance. If a child is going to school, start by asking him/her to brush his/her own shoes and fill own water bottles. Let them wreck the house up but when it is night time, make sure they clean up and do not help them at all.
I found the same thought echoing in ‘Battle Hymn of a Tiger Mother,’ a book that I read while breastfeeding Little B. Breastfeeding was an idle activity so that was another good book reading time for me. The author of the book Amy Chua openly spoke against the practice of giving mediocre tasks to a child and happily encouraging mediocre achievements of the child. Push yourself continuously, show your children that you push yourself and then ask them to push themselves as well.
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