Role Modelling & Leadership

Need for role model

Children need role models to learn and adapt. Experiences at a young age form the back bone of our decision making process. We learn to communicate, share and handle stress by seeing elders in the family, school are neighbourhood heroes.

Our traditional joint family system provided such role models for children to see, learn and emulate. The patriarch or matriarch of the family took most of the decisions, handled pressures and stresses while running the affairs of the home. The break down of joint family system and rise of small families has created a major vacuum for role modeling.

Parents with sedentary life styles and poor health are becoming unhealthy role models for children. Children from broken homes are more likely to face similar situations during marriage. The lack of physical activity and complete neglect of sports in our academic mindset has wiped out any chances of our country excelling in these areas. Further, we are likely to end up being the nation with most unhealthy population.

Having no role models at home, the child looks towards our matinee idols and cricket heroes for role modeling. Only few can qualify as role models in these segments. The rise in drug addiction, alcoholism, broken marriages, corruption and crime are a pointer to the absence of good leaders amidst us and can lead to complete breakdown of our society.

Why survival skill is important?

The ability to handle difficult situations in any sphere of human activity will eventually decide the physical and mental balance of a human being and therefore survival of the human race. For thousands of years, human beings have adapted and learnt to survive through the hard way, whereas, we parents, nowadays, take great pride in giving a very comfortable and luxurious life to our children. Such children will get no experience in the harsh ways of life and may therefore find it difficult to adjust to a tough situation as an adult - let it be loss of job or handling a difficult partner. This is truly reflected in the rising incidents of depression, low morale, major health issues like BP and diabetes at a young age.

Why Leadership is important?

Leadership exists at all levels of the society - either be it children in a small group, family as a whole or at the state level. This is one quality that has dictated the history of mankind and it will direct the future course of our world. While there are several traits and qualities of a Leader, the 3Ps of Leadership require careful attention:

• Power
• People Skills
• Problem Solving

While there are so many ways one can learn about Leadership, we at NALS have recognized that an experiential learning program combined with outdoor experience and adventure activity can truly challenge the mind, bring about the emotional changes necessary for the participant to experience the 3Ps.

The participant will experience some of these Leadership Traits:

• Command and cooperation
• Team Work and motivation
• Objectives and goal setting
• Group Strategy and Planning
• Problem solving and Decision making
• Communication
• Courage amidst adversity and uncertainty
• Humility and tolerance

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