How To Teach Entrepreneurship to Children

Some of you may be wondering; why should we even start a conversation about entrepreneurship with primary school-aged children? Doesn’t the common wisdom hold that the focus of formative years should be on building academic knowledge?

I shared that belief before my own children started school. Now, I am convinced that modern education should go hand-in-hand with practical learning or, even better, drive academic learning.

Here are a few facts. The Australian research agency Mccrindle identified (1) earlier commercial sophistication as one of the characteristics of generation alpha – today’s primary school children. Born between 2010 and 2025 and predicted to be the largest generation ever, these kids have been labelled the ‘screenagers’ due to their early screen exposure, often before they even learn to speak. Just think about this – the largest generation in the world’s history with a high commercial aptitude.

The same research suggests that entrepreneurial outcomes will be the focus and the expectation of future education.

This trend is proven by another piece of Mccrindle’s research which found (2) that 86% of today's students regard themselves as future entrepreneurs, either full time or part time. That is nearly nine students in 10 planning to be running their own business to some degree.

While business education for kids is being recognised as a value-adding touch to some middle and high school curricula, most schools, particularly primary schools, do not yet meet this need for commercial knowledge in children. And while it should not be considered as the final goal of education, kid entrepreneurship is an opportunity to engage children in learning and create motivation to pursue knowledge beyond the classroom.

Benefits of Learning Kid Entrepreneurship
By starting their own business, kids can advance their academic knowledge independently, appreciate the hard work that goes into money making and learn essential life lessons, such as planning and prioritising, how to overcome failures and learning to control money (and not vice versa).

When I work as a casual relief teacher across Australian primary and secondary schools, one thing that consistently stands out for me is the level of disengagement among children. The kids are simply not interested in doing inspirational writing every single day. The prompts that are given to them are not engaging, to say the least. So, while they duly do the assignments, I can see there is no spark in their eyes.

Now imagine if they needed to create a landing page for their website or a product description about something that fascinates their minds, be it travel, or technology, or a social cause. And there is real competition they should keep an eye on. How well they do their job depends on whether they attract any customers and earn money. Now, that is a reason to do well and explore how to spell correctly, how to structure a persuasion piece, how to use the verbs of action and the other parts of speech. The list of skills the kids need for this task goes on and on and extends into maths, to calculate profits, bundles and prices, as well as science and geography.

Thus, the main benefit of starting business as a child is growing motivation by understanding why and how wider knowledge will help them win the entrepreneurial game.

How Parents Can Encourage Entrepreneurial Thinking in Children
Let’s be honest, not all kids are entrepreneurial by nature, and that’s totally fine. The goal for parents is to help discover kids’ natural talents and develop them further.

Here are a few ideas to see if a child has an interest in becoming an entrepreneur and how to build it:

• Read about entrepreneurs and their journeys, which are often inspiring real-life stories, the book Shoe Dog by the founder of Nike Corporation Phil Knight is a good place to start.
• Visit small business owners in your neighbourhood and talk to them about what it takes to run a business, the skills a successful entrepreneur must have and the challenges they face every day.
• Ask your child about pros and cons of being an entrepreneur vs an employee.
• Visualise what their life will look like when they run their own business. Try to avoid idealisation and remind them about the many failures successful entrepreneurs have to go through.
• Encourage your child think about how they could overcome those situations and which skills they already have or need to learn to achieve business success.

Not only will you connect with a child through such conversations, but you’ll give them a direction of thinking and further exploring the entrepreneurial world.

Business Education for Children
If you discover that the idea of running a business fascinates a child, then take a deep dive into business courses for kids, such as Miss M Online Classes which are specially designed for children 8+.

I developed these courses with my own children in mind using the best approaches that worked during my teaching to make the lessons valuable and equip kids with tangible outcomes they can apply in real life straight away. Teaching being a secondary career, I share the gems of 17 years’ marketing experience which included running my own business. Kids don’t learn dry theory like in many other courses, instead, they learn complex concepts through well illustrated examples that surround them and they can relate to.

In the online course 'Marketing Foundations: How To Start a Business As A Child' kids learn key marketing concepts and how to discover and monetise their talents through a series of practice tasks.

If your child does not show an entrepreneurial bent, learning critical thinking skills through analysing advertising, colour marketing, product labels and other marketing effects designed to encourage specific buying behaviours, may be something they are willing to explore. In this case, they will benefit from the course 'Un-Marketing: How To Shop Smart & Own Buying Decisions' designed to educate children to think independently in the shopping environment.

There is no lack of business courses for kids these days. The key is to find those that are developed by professionals who have learned their entrepreneurial art not through textbooks or courses, but through personal experiences, and can engage with children to grow their motivation to pursue self-learning to set up the child for success and give them motivation to succeed.

As a teacher, an entrepreneur, and a mother, I believe that raising motivated kids is more important than teaching school subjects. Kids enjoy well-prepared food and may even ask for more when it is made to their taste while they refuse or spit out the food they don’t like. This is why knowledge, like food, should be cooked so it grabs kids’ curiosity and prompts them to explore concepts on their own beyond school curriculum.

References
1 https://mccrindle.com.au/article/topic/generation-alpha/generation-alpha-defined/

2 Mccrindle, Equipping Students for the new world of work, Infographics, 2022 and Understanding Generation Alpha.