he's a good question what recommendation
what advice do I have for parents who
have kids now full disclaimer Jen and I
we have been together for 13 years we've
been married for four years now and we
don't have any children yet however I do
have a lot of students from around the
world who are parents and sometimes they
come to me and seeking advice because I
am an educator at the end of the day I'm
a teacher so they want to know how could
they give their kids a head start in
life
what recommendation I have and I usually
tell them three things which will be the
three things that I want to share that
with you first thing I teach them is
first of all recognize your children's
talent right what are they naturally
good at what are their strengths one of
the books that I recommend everyone to
read is a book called strength finders
strength binders and within the book it
comes with a little test go online and
take the test and it will tell you your
top five strengths that you should focus
on I believe this is something that you
should do it with your kids as well so
then you know naturally early on what
are they naturally good at here's what I
believe that if you focus on your
weaknesses at the end of your life you
have a lot of strong weaknesses I
believe you should go all-in and bet on
your strengths but you can't bet on them
if you don't know what those strengths
are so number one recognize your child's
strengths and have them focus on that
that's number one number two is to be
open to the possibility other than their
traditional path what am I talking about
right years ago my dad I remember you
would say to me hey son when you grow up
I want you to be anything that you want
as long as an accountant talk to a
lawyer one of those three you can pick
any one of those three that you want
right that's a very typical Asian family
right if you're not doctor you're not a
lawyer not an engineer you are a failure
that's it you don't have any other
choices comment below if you're family
it's the same you're coming from you
know an Indian family or an Asian family
maybe right you don't have a lot of
choices so as parent what I recommend is
hey what if your daughter wants to be a
vlogger on YouTube maybe to become a a
makeup artists maybe a hairdresser your
son maybe wants to be a gamer they
actually make quite a bit of money they
actually very successful be able to
travel the world and just be successful
in their own area with their expertise
although it feels like they're playing
games but actually it takes a lot of
time and effort to master a craft like
that to be able to compete and now
they're competing in tournaments and
things like that as well so being open
that's all I'm asking
open to the possibilities so when they
say I'm gonna be a professional gamer
don't be like what the hell is wrong
with you and then you slap the face and
then you go do your homework no listen
okay if you want to be a professional
gamer what are you willing to do are you
actually practicing tell me how are you
gonna succeed how could I make a living
doing this let them sell you on the idea
and just be open to the possibility
because nowadays there are the career
paths where you may not exist in the
past right before yes we have accounting
101 right they can study to be a doctor
to be a nurse to be counted and oh
that's good that's perfectly fine but
there are now a lot more new career
paths that people could choose from that
those topics they're not available in
school right there's no YouTube 101
right there's no Instagram 101 there's
no digital marketing 101 it doesn't
exist and yet there's a huge demand in
the marketplace right now for Colin's
like that so that's number two be open
to the possibilities of just other
career paths and their third thing that
I would ask you and advise you to teach
your children here it's that is the
habit of learning letting them know
going to school that's good going to
university
that's fine going to college that's fine
but that's not the end one of the most
dangerous things that you could teach
your kids it's like hey son in order go
to school and after you you get that
piece of paper you get that certificate
you get a diploma that's it
there you go to work no you have to
educate them that by the time they get
that piece of paper they get that
certificate they get that diploma they
get that degree that is not the end that
is the beginning of
learning in order to do that you have to
be a role model isn't it true your kids
they don't listen to you what you say
they watch what you do so if you want
them to be a student full of life you
wanted to be continuously learning and
proving themselves guess what you should
be doing you need be a role model so you
need to be improving educating yourself
all the time self education is more
important than just academic education
read that book take that course go to
that workshop keep learning talking to
other successful people learn from other
people who are smarter than you your
kids would see that and they would learn
the same thing and they would want to
emulate that so teach them give them the
gift of learning teach them to read a
book listen to a book talk about hey
here's a book that you've read what have
you learned from that I think that is
probably the most valuable gift that you
could give to your children