If you want to know about preparing hamburgers, I will encourage you to contact McDonald’s. Mickey D’s can hook you up with a Big Mac, a burger known for its secret sauce. However, if you want to know how to help your child get into the school of their dreams, find the university with the best fit that keeps you both out of debt, I’m here to tell you about the ‘Secret Sauce.’
I wish I could tell you that preparing the ‘Secret Sauce’ was as effortless as making “two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions, and a sesame seed bun” but I can’t. While not overly complicated the ‘Secret Sauce’ requires significantly more effort than flipping burgers at McDonald’s.
KEY INGREDIENTS
The key ingredient in the ‘Secret Sauce’ is you. If you desire the best educational outcomes for your child and if you are serious about your child’s life being better than yours, you must have a life plan that includes working relentlessly without excuses.
For example, you can never proclaim that your child isn’t that smart. Nonsense! When our children miss out on the opportunity to maximize their intellectual potential, it’s rarely because of diminished IQ. Less than one-quarter of one percent of the population is considered genius which means most of us; children included are of equal intelligence.
In case you are wondering what one-quarter of one percent looks like in real life, it is equivalent to 2.5 children out of student body of 1,000. Consider this; Yale accepts 7% of its applicants or 70 out of every 1,000 applicants. So if 2.5 people out of every 1,000 people is a genius, 67.5 of each 1,000 Yale accepted applicants are just like you and me – of average intelligence.
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
Why then do some children excel at school while others struggle? What’s the reason some students meet the academic profile of a Yale student while others surrender their hopes and desires accepting instead an offer to attend something other than their dream college? Why do many promising children become underwhelming adults? You might not like what I’m going to say next, but I’m going to say it nonetheless, the majority of children fail to live out their hopes and dreams because of their parents.
Thus, the time is up for denying the truth. Too many parents fail to understand their role as the ‘Secret Sauce.’
Speaking of failure, Benjamin Franklin purportedly said, “If You Fail to Plan, You Plan to Fail.” I wasn’t alive during the eighteenth century to form a friendship with Mr. Franklin so I can’t confirm that he said those words. Though, I can attest from the historical study of the most successful and highly esteemed people in history that the words attributed to Mr. Franklin are correct.
In life, planning is not optional it is mandatory. Either we plan for the life we desire, or we might as well confess that we have no intention of living the life we want. The same is true of parenting. Either we’re planning the life we want for our children, or we’re preparing for our children to fail.
Moms and dads, success is not an accident. It matters not if we are referencing academic, athletic, business, or personal achievement, successful children are the result of intentional parental habits that support a parent’s deliberate plan.
INTENTIONAL YOU
In the likely event, you have not constructed a deliberate plan for your child which you support with intentional habits; I’m going to make three easy suggestions that will help you get started:
- Start A List Of Hopes And Dreams. Don’t just ask your child about their hopes and dreams, write them down. Even better, you could also use your electronic appendage, your smartphone, to video record your child sharing their hopes and dreams with you. It’s up to you whether you choose to write or record your child’s dreams but what is non-negotiable is that you must encourage your child to dream audaciously. Whatever you do to record your child’s dreams, you must never let your child forget that extraordinary life experiences come from bold and audacious dreams.
- Create A Vision Board. Collaborate with your child to construct a vision board for their life. Per the Law of Attraction, we each can attract into our lives that which we focus. The vision board serves as an outward expression of your child’s hopes and dreams. The images, pictures, and affirmations on the vision board should not only inspire and motivate your child, but the vision board should encourage and motivate you to do all that you can to make sure your child attains their dreams and desires. Make the vision board as large as possible. Place it everywhere – on a wall, copy it and put it on multiple walls, use it as your computer and phone background. Let the vision board be everpresent in your and your child’s life.
- Change Your Habits. Start with as few as five things you need to do differently today to help your child attain their hopes and dreams. Place those five daily things on a checklist in a location, i.e., the refrigerator where your child and other family members can hold you accountable. The list should be preliminary steps, the beginnings of an action plan for helping your child meet the profile of the student at their dream school and the initial strategy that gives your child a real chance to live their best life.
In closing, I
IT’S UP TO YOU!
What everyday intentional habits do you have that will help your child meet the profile of the student at their dream school? What intentional daily habits are you living that will help your child live their best life?