The Institute for Family Enterprising Blog brings you the latest in events, research and thoughts from within the nexus of family business and entrepreneurship. We will also use authors and findings from our major research arm - the STEP Project.
Did you even think of your family business as a playground, a summer camp, a learning laboratory, or a new business incubator? If not, maybe you should read this.
Many entrepreneurs are faced with the decision to either involve their kids in the family business or push them away due to personal experience. While these frustrations may occur, it is more useful to evaluate the situation as a parenting strategy as opposed to a family business issue. After speaking with Cindy Iannarelli, who has a Ph.D focusing on family businesses, we have discussed some do and don'ts for family business parenting.
A few simple rules of thumb are: it is important to know that it is never too early to expose your kids to a business. Just make sure you keep the activities age appropriate. Kids want to spend time with their parents, so here is a perfect way to combine both worlds. As they become older, they will become more curious about the business environment they have been exposed to. This is when you can let them do some fun jobs and give them a little compensation. As they continue to get older, the responsibilities and jobs can become more challenging and the compensation can increase. At this point, it is important to take a step back as a parent and become more of a professional peer.
If this may not seem like your ideal process, you can always use two less conventional approaches. You could run summer kid's camps, which could allow you to bring family members together to learn about business, or you could help them start their own business. Kid's love to build new things, so this opportunity will allow them to gain valuable life experience in addition to a great resume builder.
This opportunity is a great learning experience, and kids should enjoy it. One last important tid-bit for you to walk away with is don't assume that your kids will hate working with you and your business; what they hate is parents who don't know how to look at life from a kids perspective.
Posted by Timothy Habbershon on March 12, 2008 14:50 | link
