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2020 Is Almost Here - Help Your Child Be A Leader in the New Year!

By Signature Prep Charter School December 26, 2019

Leaders can develop even at the youngest of ages! Check out the following five tips to help your child grow into a confident young leader! 

Support Team/Group Activities 

“Leaders become great not because of their power because of their ability to empower others.” - John Maxwell 

Whether your child is interested in playing sports, participating in band, or joining your local Boy Scouts or Girl Scouts, encourage them to join a group where they can explore what it is like to be a team player, work together and respect others. Being able to collaborate with other children and learn how to win and lose as a team can help them develop the foundational skills to be a leader in their group or captain on their team.

Emphasize Perseverance

“The will to persevere is often the difference between failure and success.” -David Sarnoff

Some of the best leaders have learned more from their failures than successes. Let your child know it’s okay not to be perfect. Children need to learn how to handle loss so they know how to persevere and problem solve later on their own. Remind them they will not always win every game, might not get elected class president, or earn a good grade on every test. Perseverance is a key trait for leaders because this allows them to propel themselves forward to greatness at the next turn or obstacle. 

Demonstrate Accountability

“Accountability breeds response-ability.” - Stephen R. Covey

Parents, you want your child to grow up and be successful in their lives, but you don’t want them to do so with no regard to what is right or wrong. Talk with your child about being responsible for their words and their actions and hold them accountable. Did they take toys out of the garage to play in the front yard? Remind them it’s their responsibility to put them away when they are finished.    

In school, avoid jumping in right away when your child struggles and let them be accountable for their work. After the fact, review the task or project and talk through how things could be done differently next time to be more successful. 

Encourage Service To Others

“Service to others leads to greatness.” - Jim Rohn

When children have the mindset to help others, even in the smallest ways, this can help them develop empathy and compassion for others, which are great traits for leaders.

A few ideas of service your family can do together is to donate books or clothes to your local shelter, help clean the yard of an elderly neighbor, or even encourage your children to help their siblings clean their rooms. At school, your child can show little acts of kindness and service to others by opening a door for a classmate or asking a new student to sit at his or her table during lunch. Brainstorm ideas with your children so they can take ownership of their acts of service. 

Recognize Excellence

“Excellence is not a skill. It is an attitude.” - Ralph Martson 

Your child is never too young to strive for excellence. Excellence can be described in different ways and shown in the simplest of manners, such as being an excellent listener or an excellent learner, i.e., trying their best, working hard, staying on task, or helping those around them.

Remind your child that they can show excellence every day by achieving a goal or improving just a little bit on their grade in school. Recognize these little bits of excellence your child exemplifies and see how the positive change in his or her attitude!


Signature Preparatory Charter School integrates leadership into everything they do. Henderson’s K-8th-grade charter school incorporates R.A.I.S.E values (Respect, Accountability, Integrity, Service, and Excellence) inside and outside the classroom, helping their students become strong, educated, and confident adults. Learn more about Signature Prep’s R.A.I.S.E leadership program and sign up for a tour on their website by clicking here