Your child's talents and hobbies

Fostering talents and hobbies

Your child may develop an absorbing passion like collecting baseball cards, that he'll enjoy for many years. Or he may flit from hobby to hobby -- one year it's making models, the next year he's interested only in building kites. Or your child may fit her interests into whatever the family does together. If you love to garden, she may happily join you in transplanting the annuals in the spring.

Encourage your child in her choice of activities, whatever form they take. Kids gain confidence and a sense of self-esteem from the activities they choose themselves. They may have had a bad day at school, or their best friend might be mad at them, but they can forget their frustrations, at least temporarily, when they focus on their current interest. Some children develop hobbies that accompany them through adolescence and perhaps into a career.

Kids need a smorgasbord of activities to choose from, but their weekly schedule should he appropriate for their age. Between the ages of six and 12, children still need opportunities to explore, undirected, in order to develop their individual imagination and build confidence in themselves. A weekly schedule that contains too many classes or organized activities might stifle that inner development. Let them choose from the variety of activities available in your community, but limit the number in any season to what you both can handle while still allowing time for their homework, friends, and family time or chores. Older children can soon catch up to a peer who started at an earlier age in an activity that interests him, so your child's potential for success is not sacrificed if you don't enroll him for a year or two.