A Different Angle on Succession Planning - Teach the Kids Young
By Robyn Pearce
(648 words)
Children and teenagers (not just your own) are not only a great source of labour – in the home as well as on the farm – but we also have a responsibility to stretch their skills.
What local teenagers can you employ?
When my six kids were little I had several bouts of burnout and ill-health. (The kids all arrived in a nine-year period, including an intellectually handicapped foster son, so it was a very busy world!) My wise doctor advised me to get a school girl in after school to help with the 'hell hour'.
A responsible 14-year old lived on the small-holding down the road and could easily get off the bus at our gate and walk home after helping me. We had very little money, but for a small wage Leonie used to bath kids, pick up toys, peel the spuds, get in the washing, ... whatever. It was the best money I ever spent and meant my husband didn’t have to do as much in the home after his long day on the farm.
What bright-eyed neighbouring teenager could you hire for either domestic or farm tasks?
Encouraging business skills in children
Children and teenagers can be encouraged in entrepreneurship very easily in a farming environment, as long as we don’t molly-coddle them.
James was 14. His dad owned a 1000 very hilly acres of sheep and beef land. It was before quad bikes became fashionable - horses were the primary transport around the hills.
James seemed to be born with a natural eye for business opportunities. One day he said to his father: ‘It’s silly to keep buying mares, Dad. All we need is a stallion and we can breed our own replacement horses. I’ve seen a stallion advertised – can you take me to have a look?’ Father could have come up with the normal problems associated with stallions such as broken fences, extra feed etc, but instead gave the kid his head.
A few hours later James was riding his new stallion home by himself – a journey of at least four hours, most of it off-road. How easy it would have been to pay for a stock truck to ship the stallion home – a young lad riding a strange horse home by himself would worry many parents. Yes there was a risk, but his father knew he’d raised a responsible lad, the boy was good with horses, and there’s a risk in living … after all, people get killed in cars every day.
A few years later James was breaking in his own colts and selling them to fund his studies at Lincoln and subsequent overseas travel. Today, at a little over 30 he owns the family farm, running it with a constant ‘best practice improvement’ focus and constantly dreaming up new money-making ideas.
Teaching responsibility to children
It’s not just full-time farming families who see the benefits to their children of mucking in with the good, the bad and the ugly of farm chores. A young woman I met on a trans-Tasman flight a few years ago is the daughter of one of New Zealand’s senior Captains of Industry. As well as owning one of New Zealand’s most profitable companies the family also owns a very large farm not far out of Auckland. In her growing-up years the family spent many of their weekends on the farm.
When she was about nine she asked her parents for a dog. ‘Sure,’ was the reply, ‘as soon as you can kill its tucker.’ In less than a year she was competent at slaughtering a sheep, and had her dog.
No surprise that before 30 she was Managing Director of one of the family’s offshore companies, had a large staff, and was fully involved in all the family enterprises. She easily could have been a spoilt princess – but her parents taught her the gift of responsibility.
Robyn Pearce CSP (Certified Speaking Professional) is the Time Queen. She mastered her own time challenges and now helps people around the world overcome theirs. She can show you how to transform your time challenges into high productivity and the life balance you desire.
Download her free report “How to Master Time In Only 90 Seconds”, a simple yet powerful diagnostic tool to help you identify your key areas for action. You’ll find it at http://www.gettingagrip.com/products/e-books/index.asp And while you’re there, enrol for your free Top Time Tips – practical advice every two weeks
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