My mother owns a home daycare. There are about five or six children ages two and older that get dropped off between seven and eight in the morning and get picked up between four and five in the late afternoon. While I observe the children’s behavior, I think to myself, does age have an impact on children showing leadership skills? No, I believed that children who show leadership skills now were born as leaders.
Between the ages of five and six years old, children are not taught to be leaders. They are taught how to behave and to share with others. While I observe the children play, I can point out two children who show leadership skills. They would lead the other kids in clean up and had a majority of the say in what game they would play. An interesting observation I made is that these two kids were not the oldest ones in the group. So this made me conclude that their leadership skills were traits and that they were born with these skills.
As I watch the other children play, other than the two leaders, I also wondered if they would become leaders one day. It is a possibility. I found that the “for now followers” were the best behaved children and wanted nothing to do with getting into trouble. They did what they were told when they were told to do so. I found that the leaders often tried to overstep boundaries and often got into trouble. For now, the followers will remain followers until one day they learn to be a leader. Their good behavior and friendliness allows them to still have a chance in one day becoming a leader.
Watching the children play at my mother’s daycare allowed me to observe leadership skills in a younger age group. The children who showed leadership skills show it often. They are the ones who like to take control of situations. Age does not matter when it comes to showing leadership skills. It shows who was born with the leadership trait and who will develop it later on in life.
sir1 says
As someone who has been around small children, I agree with your observation that age is not a consideration for leadership ability. As we learned, those with drive to complete tasks, persistence, and the ability to influence others certainly demonstrate the trait leadership style, and those who display extraversion are most strongly associated with trait leadership (Northouse, 2013).
One question that came to mind as I was reading your post, was whether you were also observing the psychodynamic approach. The most basic premise of this style is that the earliest childhood experiences from our primary care givers create deep-seated feelings about leadership, particularly during the first few years (Northouse, 2013). So maybe in addition to those born leaders you observed there were a couple of children developing their leadership from the psychodynamic approach as well.
Northouse, P.G. (2013). Leadership: theory and practice. Los Angeles. Sage Publications.