Teaching leadership to children can be difficult even when there are two parents working together to teach the child.

If you find yourself as a single parent getting tired, hang in there. Your efforts are in a good cause.

You may be tired, wondering how you could fit anything else into your day. Serving your child by teaching character and leadership can actually generate energy for you.

Another option is to include a friend in your journey to mentor your child.

As part of your team of adults you enlist to help you train up your child in the way he or she should go, consider an older retired person who held a leadership role in their day. Ask them to help you periodically. I'll bet they'd be glad to help build up another future leader with you.

Ask a person in a current leadership role in your community to tell you and your child how they got started.

• Clergy
• School principle or teacher
• Fire station chief
• Law enforcement Sergeant or Lieutenant
• An active duty or reserve military commissioned or non-commissioned officer (both fill important leadership roles for our armed services)
• A sports coach at the next level
• A martial arts instructor
• A local entrepreneur that has employees (ask the local Chamber of Commerce for ideas)
• A manager from a for-profit or non-profit organization in your area
• A local Boy Scout or Girl scout leader or district commissioner
• A project leader for Habitat for Humanity (they lead volunteers to build houses together)

These are just a few ideas. Just remember that you don't have to do all the lifting by yourself. Enlist a team of people to help you develop a future leader out of your child. Use ideas from this blog or from other resources on the Internet. If you have the desire and give a little bit of effort regularly you'll be ahead of people with many more resources that don't make the effort. No matter what the outcome, your child will enjoy the time spent with you. So you've got nothing to lose by trying. Have fun and let us know of your successes.