Children Going into Business

Several times, my husband and I have business meetings with people young enough to be our children.  I couldn't help myself from telling them that I admire them for having their own businesses at a very young age.  They in turn will narrate how they got into the business.  Common denominator for this young businessmen is that their parents are businessmen.  On school vacations, they were encouraged to help out in the family business and this is where they first honed their business skills.  It's like an "on-the-job" training but this time they have their father or mother or an elder sibling hovering at their back and drilling business tips in their head.

This led me to ask myself if children who started early in the family business are likely to succeed more when they become businessmen themselves later.  

I am a mother of young adults and my children had expressed interest in going into business.  My husband and I had counselled them to go into employment first for a few years before wading into the tumultuous waters that is business.  They already heard our lectures on getting experience and building their network before venturing to entrepreneurship.  Our family business is still fledgling and we can't accommodate them just yet.  

The question now is when is the right time to involve them in the family business.  Would the children be better off while they are young but the business is starting to gain ground? Or should they go to employment first to gain discipline and experience and later join the family business that has become stable?