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Sapling MINDS

Three Pillars for Parenting Success



There are three pillars that we need to preserve and bring back to fundamental parenting approaches. Developing these fundamental pillars with your child early will significantly improve their life.


The three pillars are resiliency, authenticity, and entrepreneurial spirit.


The Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University defines resiliency as a combination of protective factors that enable people to adapt in the face of serious hardship. Resiliency in your context as parents, is about supporting your child to develop the capacity and skills so that they can remain in balance in all facets of their life. This development of capacity and balance is why resiliency is the primary pillar. It’s possible to strengthen and further develop your child’s resiliency at any age, however as children are most adaptable early in life, the earlier you can support this development of coping skills and protective experiences, the earlier you’re setting them up for success.


Authenticity can mean many different things to many different people. How many times as a parent have you said to your child “Just be yourself”? Maybe you said this to them when they were nervous on their first day of school, or maybe it was when they were going on their first play date alone at a friend’s house. If the concept of “who am I” is something that many adults struggle with, how do we expect our children to understand how to be themselves without guidance? The foundation of authenticity is built upon self-trust. Authenticity is your child having the ability to recognise, honour, and trust their feelings (both good and bad), and then act in a way that is consistent with their values. This is something that they start learning as an infant when they express their emotions in raw ways and work through self-soothing in those times. Your child continues to learn as they become consciously aware of what the different emotions are and how these feel in their bodies.


The final of the three pillars is entrepreneurial spirit. At one point or another, we’ve all heard a child say “when I grow up I want to be…”. These ideas your child shares may be perceived as being big dreams and potentially unachievable. However, this is an important time for your child as they are learning from your reactions and modelling as parents. Entrepreneurial spirit is about your child’s innate creativity, self-motivation, drive to chase their dreams, willingness to take risks, and being resilient in the face of failure. If you think of each part of this definition, these are all fundamental life skills that assist us in succeeding in all facets of our lives; work, home, socially, and so on. Your self-motivation underpins showing up at the gym each week, your creativity shows in the beautiful décor you selected to create your home, and your ability to be resilient in the face of failure is something you may have experienced when learning to drive a car or to do anything for the first time.


As I’m sure you would agree, these three pillars are critical for your child to succeed in life. This book will help you create a lifestyle for your child that is filled with wonder. It will show you how to give the gifts of resiliency, authenticity, and entrepreneurial spirit through fundamental learnings.



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