Scott Schimmel 0:20
Welcome back to another episode of The YouSchool podcast. I'm Scott Schimmel. And this summer we're working through these oh, we're calling critical life skills. Now critical because they're essential things that every single kid needs to have, before they, quote, unquote, grow up, leave the home, create life for themselves, that we can teach them and they need to know and have as just a part of their quiver, as a part of their toolkit, in order to live life well. We don't want our kids just to be, let's say, self sufficient, or successful from a career standpoint, we want our kids to thrive in life. And I can think of only a couple things maybe more important than this conversation. And it's about role models. Now, quick story, our middle kid, our older daughter, Grace, gets to go to the Taylor Swift concert, soon. I think, like three weeks or something. And it's a pretty penny. But the amount of joy that this is bringing her to go. And if you're, if you've been on the internet, in the past month, you understand the power of Taylor Swift, and her concerts and this show that she's doing. And the thing to me that I think I'm most excited about is ever since Grace was tiny- two, three years old - I've been thinking, I've been hoping that one day, Grace would look up to Taylor Swift as a role model. Now, I don't know everything about Taylor Swift. I'm not Swifty. I appreciate her. I'm not a Swifty. But it seems to me like she has been and maintains being a good role model to young women, to my daughter, especially. My daughter, ever since she was born, she came out singing, she came out with a tune. She's just dripping with talent, and creativity. And so to have someone ahead of her that she can look up to, both for her talent, of course, but also for the way that she's carried herself. Again, I don't know everything, I'm sure she's got skeletons like everybody. But by and large, it seems like she's been a fantastic role model. And I'm so, I've told Grace, that's and she was three. So it's, it's a thrill. It's a thrill to me, I want my other kids, all my kids, and not just to have Taylor Swift, but a variety of role models. How do you become? How do you become who you're supposed to be without seeing glimpses of who you actually are in someone who's older than you, who's farther down the road than you? I think it's critical. It's a simple thing that we can do this summer. As parents, and as educators, as we transition back to school, we can help our kids reflect on their role models. Again, if you don't see it, it's chances are, you're not going to become it. Two main questions to ask kids very, very simple. Who do you look up to? And second, what do you admire about them? Who do you look up to? And don't just say, in general. I don't know about you. There's not one person that I look up to you. But to look at different slices of life. Who do you look up to when it comes to their character? Who do you look up to when it comes to their talent? What about their career? What about how they've designed a family? What about their presence online? Who do you look up to in terms of the humor? Their style? I mean, there's just kind of, not endless, but there's a variety of categories to help our kids consider who they look up to - in terms of their faith, they're, who they are, how they come across to others, how they make people feel when they're around them. And the point is, for us to be the ones asking them the questions to reflect. And there's three things I think we can do to make this very deliberate. So it turns into not just an idea, but a skill for our kids. A skill of knowing who their role models are. First of all, share yours with them. Who do you look up to? Who're your role models? What do you admire about them? You don't need to ask permission to tell your kids that. Do you know who I really have always looked up to in terms of an artist? Do you know who I've always looked up to in terms of like a thought leader? Do you know if I've always looked up to in politics? I don't know. I'm just throwing it out there. Share yours. Ask about theirs, and then introduce them to people that you admire. And you might be able to do that physically. Invite someone over for dinner. Take your kid to them. But chances are if you're like me, I have several models that are public figures or people I've looked up to and admired that I've seen in films or documentaries. Introduce your kids to them. Chances are, they won't find your route role models unless you introduce them. So why is it so important? I want my kids to be able to see glimpses outside of me and their mom of who they could become. And again, I think it's, until you see it, you can't step into it. So I want to give my kids a picture and vision of the kinds of people that they could be at their best, at their most, at their fullest potential. It's a simple, subtle thing to do with them. But I've, as we've done this exercise with really thousands of students over the last 10 years, It's one of the kind of right in front of you questions that we often forget. And if we do it, we're going to give our kid a critical life skill. It's going to help them grow. That's it. We'll be back next week with another episode of The YouSchool podcast. Hey, thanks for joining in on The YouSchool podcast. We'd love to share with you the resources available on our website at theyouschool.com. Not just articles, ebooks, worksheets and other podcast episodes, but specifically, you should know about a free course we have available called The Real Me course. It's digital, it's interactive, and it will guide you to get clear about who you are in the great story you could tell with your life. So go register for your free account and get started on The Real Me course today at theyouschool.com. That's the you school dot com.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
