Parenting Tips: 4 Steps to Raising Global-Ready Teens

An international school teacher’s perspective on how today’s education looks nothing like our own – and some parenting tips to help your kids be successful

We all know soft skills like empathy are good, and that we should celebrate diversity and multiculturalism, but how do we model these lessons to our kids so they truly stick? Adam Meyerhoff, Secondary School Coordinator for Teaching and Learning at One World International School (OWIS), shares his expert tips on the changing nature of education, and how to ensure our teens are fully prepared for a future in a truly global world. 

It takes different skills to be successful today than it did 50 years ago. Curiosity, awareness and appreciation of diverse cultures are the necessary stepping stones we should place before our children to help them be successful in a world that’s no longer limited by geographic boundaries. But how do we do it? At One World International School (OWIS), we’re working hard to raise global-ready teens.

Start Early

According to Stacie Nevadomski Berdan, co-author of Raising Global Children, Global awareness begins at home and should be encouraged by family. Even young children – children years away from becoming teenagers – benefit from learning about diverse cultures. Read about them. Watch documentaries about them. Immerse yourself and your family in their cuisines and their style of dress, and take the time to learn more about their beliefs, the holidays that they observe and the languages that they speak.

Emphasise Global Tolerance

Teaching teens that it’s never wrong to be different, and that differences make us special and not just weird, goes a long way toward raising a global-ready teen. Teach your teens to have empathy and to be accepting of people who look or speak differently from themselves. And then encourage them to share the message.

Expose Teens to New Experiences

Encourage that friendship between your child and the neighbour’s child who just moved in next door and comes from a different country. Set the example by being a friend to the parents. Encourage your teen to ask questions about other cultures without making judgments, and help them recognise the difference between facts and supposition. When your child asks to become a foreign exchange student, encourage it. When he or she expresses an interest in international travel, support it.

OWIS Sets a Good Example

You have the responsibility to help your children go as far in life as they’re able, and the best way to start them on this journey is by being a good role model and setting a good example.

At OWIS, we understand and encourage diversity. Be tolerant. Be inquisitive. Be non-judgmental, and be that way in front of your children. Push teens to be self-reliant and to make their own good decisions. Expose them to as big a world as you have access to, and then encourage them to explore beyond it.

Growing up today is all about learning to fit into a world that has no visible boundaries, and global curricula like the one embraced by One World International School can help your teen achieve it.

It’s a big world out there; is your teen ready to face it and find success? One World International School is turning out global-ready teens who know how to compete in a global world. For more information, contact the OWIS Admissions Team here.

One World International School, 21 Jurong West Street 81, Singapore 649075, Tel: (+65) 6914 6700, [email protected], www.owis.org