When you think of your role as a parent, do you consider yourself a teacher, cheerleader, coach, guide, leader? On a recent flight, I read Dr. Todd Cartmell’s book, 8 Simple Tools for Raising Great Kids. His definition of a personhood leader is, “one who people follow simply because of the way they live and interact with others…they have a spark and an integrity that attracts others and makes them want to walk along the same path” (188).

I don’t know about you, but I want to be a Personhood Leader for my kids!! I try every day to be the best version of myself I can, and I fail! But I try agin and again and aim to get better and improve in small ways. Children learn by watching, listening and doing. They watch, listen and do what we do…pure and simple. That’s a hard fact to swallow and live up to. Yet if our jobs as parents is to lead them to be good humans (with your unique version of good-read my last post!), then we need to walk the walk and talk the talk. Dr. Cartmell highlights 8 tools to help parents become personhood leaders: talking, listening, influencing, connecting, teaching, encouraging, correcting and leading. In time and with faith, we can all become Personhood Leaders, strengthening our family and our community.

drtodd.net