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Glossary
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Teaching Kids Leadership
- Problem Solving Checklist
- Adjusting Leader Style to Personality Types
- Plan Do Check Adjust (PDCA)
- So what can adults do to help kids learn leadership?
- A rose by any other name is still a rose
- Natural Consequences Versus Coaching and Correcting
- Help Kids Develop Improved People Skills
- Five Year Old Laments 'My sister is making me mad!'
- Socratic question-based discussions
- Have the child report on what they saw that day'
- Great question for the adults trying to teach kids
- Teach Kids How to Deal With Stress Well
- Teach Kids the Pareto Principle, the 80/20 Principle
- Maslov Pyramid Perspective on Kids
- Reading Partner Questions
- Watching Examples and Discussing with the Youth to Help Them Process What They Saw
- Trust is crucial to leadership
- Teenage Decision Making
- Character Development - What is character anyway so kids can develop it?
- Defining Leadership
- Blog Vocabulary Not at Child's Level
- Encouragement for the Single Parent
- Giving children opportunities to lead
- Habits of Mind from Project 2061
- Horizontal Leadership-There are more chances to practice this type for children
- How young is too young to start?
- Introduction for those new to leadership
- Producer or Consumer of Leadership?
- Scouts provides opportunities to practice leadership
- Set High Expectations
- So why should anyone take on the challenge of leadership?
- The Beginning of My Journey of Discovery
- The Paradox of Service to Others
- The Well Trained Mind
- Vertical Leadership is not where kids typically start out
- What about cultural differences?
- What can children pick up about leadership anyway?
- What is age-appropriate for teaching kids leadership?
- What is the Payoff for the Hard Work of Leadership?
- What lessons did I learn trying to develop leadership in my own children (so far)?
- Who cares about leadership?
- Character Development - How do we grow strong character and help children do the same?
- How do we measure our current character?
- Character Development - Fairness as a Character Trait
- Children Can Learn Leadership
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Blog
- Gallons of Ink
- Got Yubikey Setup
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- Python Programming
- Primary
- How to Make Family History Website and Book with Same Data
- Further Adventures Making DIY Fountain Pen Ink
- Cursive Writing
- Have Pens. Now I Need Paper
- eBook Conversion
- My Copper Metal Pen Arrived
- Do It Yourself (DIY) Mixing Fountain Pen Inks
- Microlearning
- Emergency Preparedness with Mobile Devices
- The Nature of Lisp and Writing with Pollen
- Fountain Pens
- Learning Simulation
- I Wish Familysearch.org Exported Data
- Raising Chickens in Florida
- Climbing the Learning Curve
- Gardening
- Dont Give Up
- The One Thing
- Opportunity Management
- Quote About Questions
- Mindset - Be sure you encourage kids toward 'growth' not 'born talent' with its fixed limits
- Demonstrating Respect and Choice versus Force and Coercion
- Behavioral Styles
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Family History
- Author's Contact Information
- Conventions Used
- Family History
- Family History Frontmatter
- Family History Introduction
- Historical Timeline
- Note to Future Family History Maintainers
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Our Lanham Paternal Lineage
- Josias Lanham Family 1628 (Not our direct line)
- Other Siblings and Cousins in the Curtis Harden Lanham Generation
- Other Siblings and Cousins in the Hiram D. Lanham Generation
- Other Siblings and Cousins in the John Lanham (1661) Generation
- Other Siblings and Cousins in the Jonathon Lanham (1630) Generation
- Other Siblings and Cousins in the O.S. Lanham Generation
- Other Siblings and Cousins in the Robert Lanham (1560) Generation
- Other Siblings and Cousins in the Sylvester Lanham Generation
- Other Siblings and Cousins in the T.B. Lanham Generation
- Other Siblings and Cousins in the Thomas Lanham (1701) Generation
- Other Siblings and Cousins in the Thomas Lanham (1757) Generation
- Our Lanham Line - The Paternal Lineage
- The Amanda Francis Lanham Family
- The Andrew Shepherd Family
- The Archibald Lanham Family 1751
- The Benjamin Garfield Lanham Family
- The Burress and Ida Roberts Family
- The Calvin Powell Dorsey Family
- The Charles Selby Family 1762
- The Clifford Wayne Lanham Family
- The Curtis Harden Lanham Family 1813
- The Curtis Harden Lanham Family 1875
- The David Lanham Family 1595
- The Edward James Holt Family
- The Edward Lanham Family 1685
- The Elmer Harn Family
- The Emmitt F. Welborn Family
- The Eugene WILLIAMS Family 1855
- The Frank Robinson Family
- The Gideon Wilburn Ashley Family
- The Hiram Demarcus Lanham Family 1845
- The Issac Elam Family 1803
- The Jacob Shepherd Family 1812
- The James Bedford Ray Family (Cliffie M. Lanham)
- The James Kennedy Family
- The Jasper Shipman Family
- The Jeremiah Lanham Family 1755
- The Jesse Elam Family 1782
- The Joe A. Madden Family
- The John Hendrickson Corely Family
- The John James Roberts Family
- The John Lanham Family 1661
- The John Lanham Family 1690
- The John Nicholas Jacks Family 1740
- The John T. Scott Family
- The Jonathan Hammer Cook Family
- The Jonathan Lanham Family 1630
- The Josias Lanham Family 1590
- The Oran Stroud Lanham Family 1916
- The R.J. Craighead Family 1907
- The R.J. Craighead Family 1907
- The Richard Lanham Family 1697
- The Robert Lanham Family 1584
- The Roger Lanham Family 1560
- The Stephen Lanham (1726) Family
- The Stephen Lanham Family 1760
- The Stephen Lanham Family 1784
- The Sylvester Lanham Family 1790
- The Thomas Benton Lanham Family
- The Thomas Berry (T. B.) Lanham Family 1882
- The Thomas Lanham (1757) Family
- The Thomas Lanham Family 1700 or 1701
- The Thomas Sisk Family 1858
- The W.T. Lanham Family 1850
- The Walter Lee Ray Family
- The William Curtis Lanham Family
- The William Lanham Family 1699
- The Willie Green Scott Family
- The Wortha Leon Lanham Family 1907
- Reference Materials
- Rockwall Cemetery Listing, Rockwall, Texas
- The 2006 Journey to Find Thomas Lanham's Grave Site
- The Lanham family of Wortham (Research Details)
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The Maternal Side of Our Family Lines
- The A. Sion Wheeles Family
- The Aaron Jones Family
- The Abednego Chandler Family 1752
- The Adrian Alford Colbath Family 1893
- The Alex L. Baker Family
- The Alford Nolen Jones Family
- The Andrew Jackson (Jack) Kitchens Family
- The Beall Family
- The Benjamin Colbath Family 1758
- The Chisel True Baker Family
- The Daniel Horne Blackmore Family
- The David Amick Family
- The George Henry Slattery Family
- The J. E. Sisk Family
- The James McHale Family
- The John C. Colbath Family 1820
- The John Chandler Family
- The John Jones Family
- The John Lacey Family (bef 1778)
- The John Patrick Carmody Family
- The John Sappington Family 1723
- The Larkin (Lark) Patrick Williams Family
- The Lazarus Rufus Jones Family
- The Leah Unknown Family
- The Luther Jason Head Family
- The Luther Troup Baker Family
- The Mason Jones Family
- The Michael Gonzales Family
- The Michael Yost Family
- The Patrick Joseph Merrick Family
- The Patrick Merrick Family 1883
- The Patrick Williams Family
- The Perry Rufus Jones Family
- The Peter Logan Yost Family
- The Quirke Family
- The Richard Head Family 1802
- The Richard Merrick Family
- The Robert Chandler Family 1687
- The Stephen Grey Family 1894
- The Thomas Edmonson Head Family
- The Thomas Lacey Family 1808
- The Thomas Winthrop Colbath Family 1851
- The William Estes Family 1785
- The William J. Roberts Family
- The William Milton Jacks Family
- The William Patrick Williams Family
- The Willis Ashley Family
- The Winthrop Colbath Family 1786
- The Time and the Places
- Mental Models
- Contact
- Frequently Asked Questions
The Beginning of My Journey of Discovery
A while back I decided I wanted to teach my children leadership. As I thought about this challenge and how to go about it, I reviewed what resources I'd seen on the subject.
When home schooling our children for a time, I had not seen any sufficient home school curriculum on this subject. We'd been to home school conventions and bought much material to teach our children, but I did not recall a specific program on leadership.
Public school touched on it only tangentially. Although Boy Scouts was available for my son, I wanted my daughter to learn and practice leadership skills too. I had many questions. How early was too early? It is such a big subject. What to teach? How to provide practice opportunities and feedback?
I spoke to my dad,asking how they did it with us kids. “Mostly example” was his reply. That's great, but it doesn't lend itself to repeatability. I wanted to articulate a process to do this that could be repeated by others too, not just by me.
I remember a television commercial from long ago in the USA that said “We don't make any of these products, we make them better.” To me, leadership is like that. It is not used alone, but rather is a means to an end, making many other human endeavors better when done well.
We've probably all noticed that some people do better at some skills than others, and observers may say they were born with that skill. This is an age old argument with leadership too. Indeed, each of us are endowed with gifts or strengths that impact our degree of efficiency and effectiveness, but skills can be learned. Leadership is a skill, albeit complex, and it too can be learned. Most parents know how to ride a bicycle, so they can teach their child how to ride a bicycle too. However, not all parents have been taught or have developed effective leadership skill. Even those who have may not have an easily articulated process for teaching their posterity or other youth in their sphere of influence. Like many sports fans do not see the thousands of hours of practice by professional athletes, only seeing the crucial performance in public, so most followers of leaders do not typically see the thousands of hours spent by effective leaders in preparation for the crucial public moments.
So I'm starting this iteration with a five-year-old, and an eight year old. We've been through this before with seven older children, but we did it all ad-hoc and by example alone. Sometimes we forgot we were teaching anything at all. Life can be like that sometimes. This time, I'm aiming for some repeatable processes.
My daughter already demonstrates strong persuasive powers as she negotiates for the things that she wants. Her persistence seems beyond what most adults demonstrate even in professional sales. Interestingly, she has to want something to engage her substantial abilities to persuade. When she doesn't want something the behavioral contrast is stark.
My son observes intently and then tries it himself. It's amazing to watch little humans engage in such complex behaviors.
So my goal is to try to teach leadership skills to my children. One obstacle in reaching this goal is that there is not a lot of existing guidance about teaching leadership to children. I was surprised that given all that's written about leadership there wasn't much on teaching it to children that I was able to find.
Another obstacle is that most of my own leadership expertise is tacit knowledge (all in my head) and is so automatic it can be difficult to articulate so it can be codified (written down). I found in my professional life that teaching someone direct supervision was much easier than teaching them how to train other leaders in an indirect supervision role. So I'm trying to pick apart the lessons I found in my own leadership journey and articulate them in a way that is teachable and easily learned and practiced.
The hand-me-down guidance from parents and grand parents is primarily “set the example.” And I agree, example is tremendously important in the lives of children. And yet, I want a little more structure in this process to give them the best chance of gaining these important skills.
Although I could have focused only on my own children, I felt it was important to add to the global conversation. So I'll add what I learn along the way. I'm open to input from others who may have already figured parts of this out. My goal is to get this information into the global community so others don't have as hard a time at it.
During my life I've been blessed by and seen so many inspiring examples of caring adults influencing children for good. Sports coaches, teachers, martial arts instructors, Boy Scout leaders, Girl Scout leaders, and interested parties. Some were paid, some were volunteers. What seems common about all of these examples is how much they cared. When I think of a handful of people that really stand out in memory that made a difference in my life, each of them saw in me more than I was at the moment. Each of them intensely wanted to help me do my best, and grow my capacity. They projected higher expectations for me than I had of myself then. They were genuinely pleased when I lived up to their expectations. This caring seems easy as a parent, to see the potential in your own child. But what of those without a biological parent in their lives? Hopefully this effort can help those with different circumstances too.