Dreaming Big is Good

Teaching our children from an early age to dream and dream big is easily one of the most important life lessons and skills that as parents we should be teaching our children in my humble opinion.

Teaching our children to dream about being the next best footballer, nuclear scientist, CEO of Google or to be a charity worker in some of the most troubled parts of the world. It is vital in my opinion so that they can reach their full potential in life and don’t end up selling themselves short, or have that feeling of if only I pushed myself harder, worked a bit harder at school etc. We must teach them dreaming big is good.

As a parent it so easy to tell your children not to dream, but instead to be practical, find what is considered a sensible job with a regular income, but exactly what is that telling your chIldren? For me it’s telling them to accept and settle for second best.

I’m the father of five children as anybody who reads my blog will know. I made a decision when my eldest was born that I would teach them to reach as high as they could and fulfil their dreams, whatever they may be.

This was all born out of my own childhood because I was never encouraged to chase my dreams. In fact quite the opposite. I was told in no uncertain terms you will finish school at 16 years old and then go out to work. I wasn’t actually given a choice of what type of job it was. Quite simply I was to make sure I was earning and contributing to the home. I always remember being told by my parents and teachers that I would never amount to much in life. Maybe I haven’t or maybe I have, I don’t know the answer to that, but I wasn’t about to brainwash my own children with this type of negative nonsense.

This set out my mentality for my entire life, and that’s not to accept second best, but instead to improve myself and to chase something that I really wanted. Difficult considering it was drummed into me as a child to actually be thankful and grateful for whatever I had in life, when in truth it wasn’t actually worth having. A very hard lesson to learn.

So my own childhood and the lack of parenting skills that my own parents obviously didn’t have, taught me how to be a better parent, it taught me how with simple encouragement and belief in your children that if they want they can reach for the sky and become exactly the person they want to be. We currently live in a world that has countless opportunities for our children. It’s a new world that as parents I think we should be embracing and then we should consquently be encouraging our children to seize the opportunities out there and fulfil their dreams no matter how big their dreams are or how ambitious they may be. If we want to empower our children, especially our daughters, we need to teach them the mindset of dreaming big and chasing and working hard to fulfil their aspirations.

Dreaming big is ok. It should be seen as a quality in your children that is an asset, one that we should always encourage and support them to achieve. All of us need dreams and our children need them the most. Let’s believe in the future, and teach our children that anything is possible.

Do you think it’s good to dream big? I would love to hear.