How to Guide Your Child in Finding their Passion

August 8, 2019

It’s natural for parents to want the best for their kids. Part of this means that as parents we want to help our kids find their passion and set them up financially and emotionally for the future. Whether we’ve got our hearts set on sending our kids to university, discovering that they are the next Celine Dion, or that they’ve got the moves like Jagger, we want to help them thrive in whatever they want to do.

But how do we know we’re not pushing them too hard? How much encouragement is too much? And when do we have to push the brakes on the number of extracurriculars we’re signing them up to?

Read on as we reveal 8 tips to help you support your child in finding and pursuing their passions.

1. Foster their natural talents

One way to help discover and nurture your child’s passions is to support any natural talents they may have. This could mean listening to the stories they write or attending their school performances, even though you hate the uncomfortable plastic chairs you have to sit on. No child is the same, so supporting them in whatever they set their heart on, will make them more confident in pursuing their passions.

2. Sign them up for extracurriculars

You may find that your child has not yet discovered what they love doing. One way to help them discover new interests and passions is by encouraging them to try something new. During the school semester, you can sign them up for a sport or to learn a new instrument. You may find that your child can drum like John Bonham, or that they struggle to keep a beat. Whatever the outcome is, by setting up new activities in their schedule, will give your child an opportunity to do something different and test out new interests.

3. Keep things light

An important thing to remember when encouraging your kids to sign up to new things or challenging them in their existing passions is to keep things light. By pushing kids to do more than what they are capable of, may end up driving them away from their passions. Like a balloon, kids can only sustain a certain amount of pressure before they burst. So sometimes you’ve just got to let kids be kids. After all, passions come from finding what you love doing, right?

4. Keep the Conversation Going

Regular conversations between yourself and your kid are important to stay in the loop of what your child is going through. By understanding the challenges your child is facing, you’ll get a better grasp on what they enjoy doing, and what they don’t. Having open conversations are also important to sustaining a healthy relationship between yourself and your child. Who knows, their passion may even be in connecting with people and having meaningful conversations.

5. Read to them (and encourage them to read)

Reading to young children are important for their development. Not only does this encourage the use of their imagination, but you’ll also get to see how they react to different stories and what stimulates their tiny brains. Reading to them while they are young, and in those early primary school years, will also make them more likely to enjoy reading on their own when they’re a bit older. As the old saying goes, it’s never too early (or too late) to get started.

6. Share your passions with them

Maybe your child has a passion but does not know what that means. By sharing your passions with them, this will get them to start thinking about what skills and interests may translate into a passion. There are countless ways you can share what you’re passionate about with your child. Are you a huge music fanatic? Why not take them to a concert? Are you are fascinated by stars and the galaxy? How about a trip to the Planetarium? The options are endless, and by sharing your passions, you may help them find theirs along the way.

7. Nurture optimism

By nurturing optimism in your children, you can make them stronger individuals. In a competitive world, it’s not always easy to follow your passions. Remember that 200m sprint you ran in primary school? And that one kid who could run faster than you no matter how fast you ran? Well, life is kind of like that too. There will always be people who are better at something than you, so you just have to stay positive.

Teaching kids to be strong-minded with a “can-do” attitude will encourage them to get back on their feet when faced with adversity. Optimistic children also tend to be more willing to take healthy risks, are better problem solvers and experience positive relationships.

8. Avoid judgement

You may not like everything your child gains an interest in, but as parents, you need to learn to be accepting of this. If your child would rather spend the weekend baking cookies, than going to that footy game you were so keen on taking them too, be accepting of that. Kids are continuously growing, and by judging their decisions, this will only make them feel doubtful about their ability to make good choices.

Kids are kids. They change their mind every other day, so it is important to be supportive of their decisions no matter what. This will help them gain more confidence in who they are, what they enjoy, and help them find their own path to happiness.