Let's be clear - the article is about raising a kid with the skills and capabilities of an entrepreneur. But be wary of targeting your child's future career path. That is a very dangerous game to play, as your kids need to be free to make their own path in the world, not follow your script.
I do not think being an entrepreneur is right for everyone. If everyone was cut out to do it, YC wouldn't need to question their applicants so carefully.
And as a parent, I don't want my child jumping down a path that doesn't match who they are, and therefore won't make them happy.
Did you read the article? While the headline is about raising an entrepreneur the advice is to raise adventurous and curious children and to provide stability and dependability. Hardly threatening ideals.
Sure- forcing your child down one path isn't right, but this advice is almost specifically not doing that. There's no 5 step plan involving a specific major or school or anything.
I agree, but I also think that society has a path mapped out for kids: become a loan slave/worker drone. School doesn't teach entrepreneurship at all, and neither does university. So if left unchecked, the danger is that the kids will just be slurped up by one of the official "channels" and become another worker drone.
To be fair, some universities have tiny offices dedicated to creating businesses from their research, but I don't think it is very prominent in what tends to happen at universities. "They" are much happier if they can get you to toil for little money towards your PhD.
Also, I don't think it is really possible to be completely neutral towards the development of one's own kids. And I think it is OK to pass on some of one's values. They can always rebel if they don't like them.
Totally agree with you. My number one priority is that my children have a career that leaves them as fulfilled as I am. If that means they're entrepreneurs too, that's awesome, but I don't really care. As a result, my wife and I are focused on giving them space to discover their own passions and then resources to pursue them
When I lived in Bangkok, I met a couple of interesting people passing through via ASW. And a couple of them, when I told them I was running my own show because I COULD NOT STAND working for other people, and because I'd feel like an abject failure taking a 9-5 for the rest of my life, said that they'd found this was a common theme -
People who start out by themselves are often driven by an inability to be satisfied with a 9-5 other than some deeper nobler entreprenurial drive that people seem to fetishize...
Great article. I'm raising my grade school daughter on my own and I struggle to raise her to be adventurous and curious, and it seems to be working okay. She's been bugging me to "program a robotic dog" -- Mindstorm time?
Anyway, I'm disappointed one of the most interesting anecdotes was saved for the end. I'd like to hear more about how his mother grew her deceased husband's wholesale business and then sold it to a larger firm.
I really think that you should buy your daughter Lego Mindstorms. It changed me and taught me how to actually think. For a child seeing what's in your head flipping over on the ground is pure magic.
I agree on most of the tips, but believe they have missed a few. Find people (friends) that complement your own skills and personality. Teach your childre to try and fail quick, so they understand that faillure is a good thing.
Interesting to contrast this advice with the approach of Amy "Tiger Mom" Chua (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405274870411150457605...) who advocates strict routine and control and discourages imaginative thinking, participation in team sport and is horrified at anything less than an 'A'.
If she's truly representative of the way Chinese mothers raise their kids, I don't think America has anything to fear on the innovation front.
In the Chua discussion I heard many times that she's not representative of Chinese moms but of Chinese-American moms. Can't really verify that but it seems plausible.
I do not think being an entrepreneur is right for everyone. If everyone was cut out to do it, YC wouldn't need to question their applicants so carefully.
And as a parent, I don't want my child jumping down a path that doesn't match who they are, and therefore won't make them happy.