How to Raise Successful People

This week, I have been reading How to Raise Successful People by Esther Wojicicki (pronounced Wojiskey) who is a famous Stanford University professor and she shares some old-school wisdom on her experiences both at home and in the classroom of how to nurture and develop young people.

​You can watch my Facebook Live video by clicking here where I talk about some key ideas in the introduction section of the book which was written by her three daughters Susan, Janet and Anne. If you don’t want to see the video, then here is a quick summary:​

Help your child become independent – the three Wojicicki sisters state that one of their greatest joys is their feeling of independence. This was fostered by their parents belief in them by giving them responsibility at an early age and that they let them make their own decisions.

Listen to your child – they say that they argued but their parents always listened to them. Many parents insist that they are the parent and it is the child’s job to listen.

Help them build confidence with money – as they were children of immigrants, the Wojicicki family were extremely careful with money and thought their daughters daily lessons of not wasting money and learning how to earn money. This came in the form of cutting out coupons before they went grocery shopping and also encouraging them to start their own businesses such as selling lemonade and selling Girl Scout Cookies.

Help them beat procrastination– Esther taught her daughters how painless it is to get something done rather than procrastinating. She would insist on getting things done like the laundry, cleaning the house and vacuuming. This had a bleed effect into showing the girls how much better it is to get your homework done on a Friday versus having it hang over your head for the weekend.

Help them be fearless – she taught the girls to question things and not be afraid to voice their opinion.

Whilst some of these ideas might seem old fashioned and you might say my child would just laugh at me if I told them we were going to cut coupons out of the paper, the key point is that it worked.

​The main idea I took away is that it is about creating the right environmentfor young people to gain the strength and endurance to follow their own instincts and passions without giving up or being intimidated. I will be covering this book in more detail on my Facebook page so have a look for the videos there.

​Don’t forget we have our Making The Move – Transition from Primary into Secondary School Livestreamprogramme tomorrow night. This has been a huge success and the feedback has been really positive so if you have a child going into 1st year you should check this out here.