By Will Parrish

The best teachers use real stories from real life – preferably from their own real life. As I consider the work I do as a financial planner and risk management specialist, I would like to offer a few thoughts about parenting.

My habit is to utilize my 3 wonderful little girls in my social media campaigns. One reason is that I love them so much and am so proud of them. Another reason is that the stories and events in our lives seem so applicable to the lives of my clients.

Enjoy!

Your Greatest Investment…

Being the dad of three little girls, I am constantly looking for ways to be the better dad I always envisioned I would be, but tend to miss the mark on a daily basis. Through my searching, I have found some great ideas from "older and wiser voices" and hope you find them helpful.


Smile at Babies.

Early in my adult life, it occurred to me that simply smiling at every kid I made eye contact with would be an easy gift to give. What a joy to see their little faces light up and smile back, or in some cases furrow their brow and sheepishly hide against their parent's shoulder.

This is something I have attempted to always do with my own girls. I wish I could say I get it right 100% of the time, especially since there is so much joy returned to me by their smiles. But a continual daily attempt to affirm a child through the gift of a smile is certainly a worthy investment.


Nurture Excellence

Tough love is a lost art. From my own girls, to the kids I lead worship for in church, children crave expectations from a caring adult. One of the best lessons I learned as a teacher, a volunteer in Children's Worship, and as a parent is to nurture excellence. The Kindergarteners through 1st-Graders I lead worship with each Sunday know they are in a safe environment where it's okay to have fun, within well-defined boundaries, and when those boundaries are crossed, Mr. Will is going to step in.

These kids, along with my three girls know that daddy doesn't "put up with any guff," and they are expected to do the best they can at all they do.

One of the best gifts you can give a child, any child, is the expectation of excellence.

Do What You Like…NOW!

When I taught middle school, I constantly reinforced in my students the idea that they should decide what they want to do as early as possible, and then DO THAT. If they thought they wanted to be a lawyer, get a secretarial job in an attorney's office for the summer. A doctor? Volunteer to do tasks at your pediatrician's office in exchange for an hour a week of mentoring. Want to own a business? Start one now. I

t's easier for a kid to de-select the one thing they tried and did not like, than to choose from the myriad of options they will face at some point in the future when they HAVE to make a choice. Better to develop your interests early, and get connected in that area. For the children you encounter a regular basis, encourage them to aim high, chase dreams, and be more than anyone ever thought they could. What a huge gift for such a little cost.

Self-Study

Most kids tolerate schooling. Most kids love learning about what interests them. Encourage a kid to associate "schooling" with what they like to do, and you are developing a life-long learner. What if you invested some energy into helping a kid discover they like engineering? What if you helped them see how Math, Science, Social Studies, and English all help them to become an engineer? Help a kid realize they can learn about what interests them in their own self-study regimen, and make the connection to "schooling," and you made a great investment!

Go Fishing!

One practice we avoid in the Parrish Family is the giving of allowances. To give a kid an allowance is to foster the notion that they can't really accomplish much or produce. We chose early on to demand productivity from our girls for any monetary exchange, except of course for gifts or simple acts of kindness.

We especially reward entrepreneurial activities outside the realm of basic chores. I got a kick out of seeing my oldest daughter "hire" her two little sisters to do one of her chores so that she could work on another task which held more interest for her, and "made [me] more money daddy!"

Teach a kid to be self-reliant and productive up to the maximum of their capabilities, and you set them on a great path for life.

Help Others

When my oldest daughter came to me in early January with her goals for the year, I could never have imagined what she would come up with. "I want to save two-hundred dollars in my bank for me, besides what I would like to spend at Disney World and for toys and stuff, and I would like to give one-hundred dollars to help a doctor go to India to help the kids."

Somehow, through my wife's annual trips to India in support of schools for street kids, and our talking about my one trip with her in 2011, my oldest child realized a great maxim that we had not purposefully taught her: Helping others is a great investment!

Teach the children in your life to help each other, and to help others in general, and your investment makes the world a better place. I hope you will invest in every child you cross paths with. It's such an inexpensive investment to make, and zero money is required. Now THAT sounds like a good investment!

Let us encourage and practice wise, mature decision-making.

Will Parrish
Slate, Disharoon, Parrish and Associates
9724 Kingston Pike, Suite 701
Knoxville, TN 37922
865-357-7370
will@sdp-planning.com
www.sdp-planning.com