I'm often asked by parents what they can do at home to encourage entrepreneurial thinking in their kids. It's a great question, and the answer is more about how you respond to your kid's ideas than about any specific activity. The single most powerful thing a parent can do for an aspiring entrepreneur is to take their ideas seriously — even the ones that sound silly — and ask follow-up questions that show real interest.
I started Skypig my senior year of high school. The reason I had the nerve to do it traces back, in part, to the way the adults in my life responded to ideas I had as a kid. They didn't laugh. They didn't dismiss. They asked me what I'd build first.
What the Research Says About Entrepreneurial Kids
There's a growing body of research on what predicts entrepreneurial behavior in adults, and the findings consistently point to early childhood environment as a major factor. Studies from Junior Achievement and other research bodies have shown that children who grow up in households where they're encouraged to make their own decisions, manage small amounts of money, and pursue independent projects are significantly more likely to become founders later in life.
It's not because they're being formally taught entrepreneurship at a young age. It's because they're being taught autonomy. They're learning, in small ways, that their decisions matter and that they can shape outcomes through their own actions. That sense of agency is the bedrock of every entrepreneur I know.
The other consistent pattern in the research is exposure. Kids who see entrepreneurship up close — through a family member, a neighbor, a parent's friend — are dramatically more likely to consider it a real career path. It's the same dynamic that determines whether kids end up becoming musicians, athletes, or doctors. They become what they see being possible.
What I'd Tell Any Parent
If I were giving advice to a parent who wants to raise an entrepreneurial kid, I'd offer three things.
First, take their ideas seriously. When your kid comes to you with a wild plan to start a lemonade stand, sell hand-drawn cards at school, or invent a new kind of pet toy, don't dismiss it. Ask questions. "Who would buy it?" "How much would you charge?" "Who else makes something like this?" The questions don't have to lead anywhere. The act of being asked them teaches your kid that ideas deserve thought.
Second, let them try things. Small businesses, school projects, hobby ventures. The point isn't whether the venture succeeds. The point is the experience of starting something. This is the principle behind learning by doing, which I write about a lot — kids develop entrepreneurial muscles by actually using them, not by reading about them.
Third, give them low-stakes ways to practice the hard skills. Pitching, in particular, is something most kids never get reps at. I designed Products: The Card Game partly with this in mind — it lets kids practice inventing and defending ideas in a no-pressure environment, the same way I had to learn to do it the hard way at events like Missouri Startup Weekend years later. If you want more structured ideas, my pieces on how to teach entrepreneurship to kids and recommended entrepreneurship class activities are good starting points for at-home use.
The biggest thing I'd push parents to internalize is that you don't need to teach entrepreneurship explicitly for it to take root. You just need to create an environment where your kid's ideas are welcome, their attempts are supported, and their failures are treated as data instead of disasters. That's it. The rest of the entrepreneurial mindset develops naturally from there.
I've watched this play out in families across the country, and in conversations with educators all the way out. The kids whose parents take their ideas seriously are the ones who keep having ideas. That's the practice. Everything else is just scaffolding. Be the parent who asks "tell me more" instead of "that won't work," and you'll be surprised what your kid grows into.
About the Author
Aaron Heienickle is the founder of Skypig and the creator of Products: The Card Game, a hands-on entrepreneurship game played in classrooms, family game nights, and corporate offsites across the country.
He started Skypig his senior year of high school and has been building it ever since. Aaron studied Marketing and Computer Science at the University of Missouri, where he co-founded the 4impact social entrepreneurship pitch competition, and is a regular at Missouri Startup Weekend — one of the largest pitch competitions in the state.
Through Skypig, Aaron has worked with educators, students, and corporate teams to bring entrepreneurship to life through doing — not just discussing. Learn more about Aaron.