Our enterprising kids today are following very different paths, but many of those paths can be traced back to the same beginnings: small ventures, family projects, money conversations, travel, creativity, responsibility and the freedom to try things for themselves.
Seven Children. Seven Very Different Paths.
When our children were young, we had no idea where all those little experiments would lead.
Market stalls, small businesses, unusual schools, family challenges, travel, money lessons, creative projects and long dinner-table conversations often just felt like part of everyday family life.
Years later, we can see some of the threads much more clearly.
They did not all become entrepreneurs. That was never really the point. What interests us now is how those early experiences helped shape the confidence, independence, creativity and willingness to create their own paths.
What You’ll Find Here
This page connects our early family enterprise journey with where our children are today. It looks at how small childhood experiences, money conversations, creative projects, market stalls, travel, responsibility and adventure helped build confidence and initiative over time.
Each child’s path is different. The common thread is not that they all went into business. It is that real-world experiences gave them opportunities to think for themselves, take responsibility, explore possibilities and become more confident in choosing their own direction.
Adventure and Independence
Travel, family experiences and early responsibility helped our children develop courage, adaptability and a willingness to step into unfamiliar situations.
Creativity and Initiative
Creative projects, business ideas and practical problem-solving helped them see that they could make things happen rather than simply wait for opportunities.
Real-World Confidence
Through responsibility, conversations, setbacks and hands-on experiences, they developed skills and attitudes that continued to influence their choices as they grew older.
From Childhood Ventures to Enterprising Kids Today
Enterprise for Kids began when our children were small. At the time, we were mostly interested in giving them experiences that helped them think differently about money, work, possibility and their own potential.
There was no carefully designed master plan.
What began as family conversations, childhood ventures, market stalls, money lessons, board games, travel and real-world learning gradually unfolded into seven very different adult paths.
That is what makes looking at our enterprising kids today so interesting to us. We can now look backwards and ask a question we could never really answer while they were growing up:
Which of those childhood experiences actually mattered?
Some of our thinking was also influenced by experiences outside traditional schooling, including our family’s interest in Green School Bali and real-world learning.
Different Paths, Shared Foundations
Not all of our children followed the same road.
Some moved towards business. Others followed creative paths. Some travelled extensively, wrote, invested, worked online, built communities, explored digital opportunities or developed their own unusual combination of interests.
What we recognise across many of their journeys are qualities that began developing much earlier: confidence, initiative, courage, creativity, independence, curiosity and a willingness to think differently.
The outcome was never simply about producing seven entrepreneurs.
It was about helping seven children believe that they had choices.
What Our Enterprising Kids Are Building Today
Today, the word enterprising means something broader to us than simply owning a business.
Some of our children have built businesses. Others are creating, travelling, investing, marketing, writing, working online, developing communities or forging their own unusual way in the world.
This is what enterprising kids today can eventually look like when initiative, money awareness, creativity, independence and adventure are encouraged early.
There is broader evidence for the value of these kinds of capabilities too. The OECD’s work on future education and skills highlights the importance of student agency alongside the knowledge, skills, attitudes and values young people need to navigate an unpredictable future.
What Stayed With Them
One of the most meaningful parts of this journey has been seeing how childhood experiences can leave an imprint long after the activity itself has been forgotten.
The lessons were never only about money or business. They were also about mindset, freedom, leadership, adventure, vision, responsibility and learning to trust themselves.
Our older children now often reflect positively on the opportunities they had when they were young and the belief those experiences helped instil in them.
There has also been an unexpected reversal.
When they were little, we tried to expose them to interesting people, ideas and possibilities. Now they often do that for us and for their younger siblings. They have become examples in their own right, encouraging each other, sharing ideas and celebrating one another’s successes and failures.
Perhaps that is one of the clearest signs that the early lessons lasted.
Follow Their Journeys
This part of Enterprise for Kids will continue to grow as we share more about what our children are doing now and reflect on how their earlier experiences helped shape them.
Where appropriate, we will also connect readers with their projects, communities, ideas and current work.
That will allow us to keep building the bridge between childhood ventures and enterprising kids today, not as one prescribed path, but as many different expressions of confidence, creativity, enterprise, independence and possibility.
