Our leadership topic this week is health.  I told my students that this counts mental, spiritual, and physical health.  All three are important to anyone, but to a leader, they are super-important. 

Spiritual Health

    Our spirituality is our source of strength.  Even not believing in any Higher Being is a spirituality.  The Oxford Dictionary defines spirituality as the quality of being concerned with the human spirit or soul as opposed to material or physical things.  All of us have this concern.  It’s the very essence of taking care of ourselves and those around us.

    Leaders do have a responsibility to be concerned with the human spirit or soul – their own and those of the individuals they lead.  This does not mean they need to dictate what followers believe.  It just means that leaders should allow for the spirituality of their followers.  They should not cause someone to have to defy his spiritual boundaries. 

    You can teach your gifted child this trait by making him aware of all of the different ways people express their spirituality.  If he is aware of many and he knows what he believes, he will be less likely to fall for just anything he is presented.  He will also be a more tolerant leader.

Mental Health

     Our society has become very sensitive to mental health and is encouraging people to take care of their mental health.  This is good.  How do you know if your child has good mental health?  Through communication.  As your child ages, he will be less and less likely to share with you, especially if he thinks something might be wrong.  The only way to get your child to talk to you about troubling issues is to establish a rapport early in the child’s life. 

I used to take my son on “Sonic dates.”  Sonic is an Oklahoma drive-in restaurant.  The reason I chose there is because you have to wait in your car for them to bring your food item.  This always allowed for time just to talk.  Once I had initiated the trip to Sonic as just the two of us and then used it to talk, Justin began asking me if I wanted to go to Sonic any time he had something on his mind.  It became a great way to ask for help without actually having to ask for help.  Once there, the talking just came. 

    I highly recommend spending alone time with each of your children so that they have a safe place to try out ideas, express concerns, or just talk.  If you establish this with your child, as an adult, he will seek a similar listener.  Having someone off which to bounce ideas is so very important in leadership, as much so as having someone close enough to see that something is wrong.

Physical Health

     Here is where we as an American society are failing.  We actually have a generation of kids out there who believe that they are not supposed to ever feel pain or be sick.  They stay home for a headache (not a migraine, just a headache).  They swear they tore a muscle if their legs hurt at all when running.  And they think because a mosquito bite causes a bump that they are “allergic” to mosquitos!  If they are, then we all are.  By running our kids to urgent care every time they sniffle, we have made a very sickly group of children.  Couple that with the morbid obesity we’re seeing in children, and we are not raising a very healthy group.

     Leaders must be present.  It is absolute a must.  If the leader is gone too much, I can guarantee you that someone is plotting how to usurp the authority.  We need to teach our children to push through the small things.  I hurt literally every time I stand up.  That’s arthritis for you.  But I am here.  I am present, and I don’t ask anything of those I lead that I do no ask of myself. 

    You do not have to turn your child into a weight-lifting phenom to help him be a physically healthy leader.  You just need to teach him that physically healthy people are smarter at work and trusted with more.  As leaders, this is what we desire. 

     If your gifted child will cultivate health in these three areas, I guarantee people will follow!

-        Michelle