“Talents without discipline is like an octopus on roller skates. There’s plenty of movement, but you never know if it’s going to forward, backwards, or sideways.” – H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
Knowing that your child is exceptionally gifted or talented in any field is a source of great pride for any parent, but it is also a tremendous responsibility. Once the area of potential is identified, step can be taken to develop and nurture that talent.
Daniel Coyle, author, writes that greatness isn’t born, its grown. Prodigious talent isn’t passed down genetically. It is the consequence of a cutting-edge powerful pattern combining three significant force: “targeted methods of practicing, specific methods of motivating, and coaching.” Children’s, method of practicing, dealing with success, failure, and criticisms all play a vital part in the likelihood of achieving greatness.
Introduce them to children with similar interests:
Once your child’s special talents have been identified, introduce and encourage them to connect with other children sharing similar interest in order to motivate and cultivate each other’s talents;
Do not pass judgment:
Do not judge or comment negatively upon your child’s talents else they lose motivation;
Encourage your son to explore new opportunities:
The more the opportunities a child get and more the different activities he participates in, the simpler it will be for him to identify and further develop his talents;
Ensure your child’s passion is the motivator:
Allow your child to savour his pursuits without putting any demands on him. Over – scheduling lessons or excessive parental direction may make them dissatisfied and disinterested;
Find your child a talent mentor:
Monitor your child carefully to see whether or not the interest is just a passing one. Find a talent mentor or expert to help develop and hone your child’s talent. Its is necessary that you remember at all times that your job is to be nurture your child’s interests and not pressurize him with lesson and activities that he may not enjoy;
Promote inner satisfaction not approval:
Provide your child with a comfortable undemanding ambiance to hone his talent naturally. This will ensure that he is motivated not by external approval but by the inner passion and satisfaction he will gain from pursuing his talents.
Praise effort, not ability:
When we praise a child’s natural talent, he tends to become complacent and take less effort to learn more. But if we praise their effort to learn and develop further, children are more inclined to taking risks, making mistakes and learning from them.
Parents need to instil the value of hard work in their children as children as means to keep them motivated and striving for excellence. As magic Johnson stated, “Talent is never enough. With few exceptions the best players are the hardest workers”. While it is true that parents want only the best for their children, pushing them to be better in an area where they have the skill but not the inclination is merely pushing them to fulfill their parents’ dreams and not their own.
Having a passion for a certain field will ensure that your child will worker harder, faster and better to understand and develop skills to help him succeed. Remember, hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.
Everyday Parent| Beach 105.5 FM| Beachfmonline.com | Ghana
