54: Giving Your Teen Room to Fail & Teaching Them to Rise Above It

Dr. Chris Jones is the Principle of Whitman-Hanson Regional High School and is the author of “Seeing to Lead”, which dives into how leaders can enhance student success. Dr. Chris has been an educator for 22 years and in this episode shares why he’s so passionate about teaching today’s youth. You’ll learn why it’s so important to give your teen room to fail, how to teach them to rise to the occasion, and so much more. 

Key Takeaways

• Success takes time to build. You must put sweat in. 
• Social media doesn’t tell the true story when it comes to success. 
• We have to prepare the students for the road ahead. 
• Your students will always surprise you. Dr. Chris shares an example of teaching his son how to ride a bike. 
• How do you empower your teen not to quit? 
• As soon as something seems personal, we get defensive. This is how you can point out a better way for your teen without beating them down for it. 
• Positive reinforcement goes a long way! 
• Dr. Chris shares a real-time exercise you can do to empower your teen.
• Bring gratitude into your life everyday by saying out loud what you’re grateful for/blessed to have. 
• Dr. Chris likes to ask people why they’re so negative. Not to be mean, but to be curious. 
• What were some of the positives, for example, of COVID?

Sponsored by Lessons in Leadership online program: Edgerety.com

Resources

Dr. Chris on LinkedIn

Seeing to Lead by Dr. Chris Jones

Mastermind by Daniel Bauer

Raise Your Game by Alan Stein and Jon Sternfeld

Leadership Step by Step by Joshua Spodek, James Foster 

Quotes:

“People see success and what they see is one snapshot of time. People often don’t see all the steps that it took to get there.” 

“If you keep saving your child, then you’re robbing them of the experience of learning to overcome.” 

“Show others they can be more than their current situation.”