KidLead Insights

Life has come full circle.  My middle son just donated his first car back to us since he's upgraded. It's great timing as our youngest heads to a private college in Santa Barbara, CA.  The 2000 Mitsubishi Gallant has a few years left in it, but the dash was cracked, so I purchased a cover.  But now that it's in place, I'm not sure what I like least, the cracks or wrinkly carpet.  The dash cover reminds me of a bad toupee.  When I interact with people who work with youth, who claim to do leadership training, I'm curious as to what they do.  When I'm allowed to observe or review the materials, I nearly always walk away with the same feeling of seeing someone with a bad toupee.  For some reason, people who work with youth tend to confuse student leadership with things such as character development, confidence building, teamwork, and inspiration.  All of these are good, but they're different from actually teaching students how to lead.  KidLead's committ

"Crowd funding" refers to a new social movement whereby people support entrepreneurial and artistic projects that would otherwise never happen due to a lack of finances.  The big kid on the block in this field is Kickstarter.  This org has approved our KiddieLead Project, to help us raise funds for our leadership training materials for ages 2-9.  Our goal is to raise $27,000 between April 15-May 30, so we can create graphics, illustrations, and materials that include 16 preschool storybooks, 4 early childhood chapter books, 8 activities training manuals, videos and release of our KiddieLead SIS (Social Influence Survey).  What a bargain!  We'd love your help in making this a possibility.  Please click on the KiddieLead Project to learn more, to donate, and/or to pass the word.  We must reach the entire goal of $27,000 in 45 days or we get nothing and no one is charged for their donations.  Plus, there are some very cool rewards for gifts as small as $20, all related t

I'm frequently asked if our leadership training program is good for at risk students.  I think it's because people who work with at risk kids and teens are always looking for resources that help them help these students.  I applaud that.  But what this tells me is that there's a confusion about what leadership is for children and teens.  People in our culture seem to confuse leadership with other things, such as character, self-esteem, social skills, and performance. Our leadership training resources are just that, about leading.  Being "at risk" is not on our radar.  I'm not trying to be insensitive, just clear.  A leader at risk would certainly benefit from the high calliber of training provided in our curricula and could possibly experience life transformation and avoid becoming a gang leader.  But a non-leader at risk isn't going to become a leader, merely by going through our training program.  We've noticed that those with an aptitude for lea