Supporting Your Child’s Interests Is a Good Thing

Today I was having a conversation with my husband, which happened to correspond with something I have been reading in Discover Your Child’s Learning Style.  I’ll talk more about that book (and I’ll write a newspaper column about it) once I’ve finished it, but I wanted to share with you what my husband told me now.

My husband is a big fan of podcasts.  (I am too, but I don’t have much time to listen to them.) One of his favorite podcasts is Dr. Kiki’s Science Hour.  It sounds like a fabulous show.  My husband is always telling me the story of whatever scientist that is being interviewed by Dr. Kiki, and someday, I will get around to listening too….

But today he was listening to a scientist who is beginning his graduate studies on sharks, which sounds fascinating, but I’m not writing about sharks today.  What I want to tell you is that Dr. Kiki always asks her interviewees how they got interested in the subjects they specialize in.  After listening to several episodes, my husband has noted a trend.  There are usually two factors that contributed to each scientist’s area of interest:

1) Their interest began in early childhood and never went away, and

2) They had an adult that helped foster and support their interest.

For example, the scientist who studies sharks says that when he was a child, his parents got him a membership to the local aquarium.  He said they would drop him off at the aquarium, and he would go sit by the shark tank all day.

When my husband told me this, I was excited to tell him about the chapter I read last night in Discover Your Child’s Learning Style.  Chapter 7, “Interests: So Easy to Overlook,” encourages parents to listen to and help their children follow their interests and passions.  More importantly, authors Mariaemma Willis, M.S. and Victoria Kindle Hodson, M.A. note that many parents don’t encourage their child’s interests because it may not lead to a practical vocation or means of making a livelihood.  But this can have a negative impact.  Even if the child does not turn his/her interests into a vocation, it is important that they continue to pursue their interests in their free time.

Think about it.  Adults are much more likely to be able to get through their daily grind of work if they have something to look forward to on the weekends, right?  Keeping our hobbies and dreams alive is paramount to staying healthy, active and giving us more peace of mind.

Discover Your Child’s Learning Style also provides a chart on possible careers that match a child’s talents with their dispositions.  It’s not an exhaustive list, but the authors want parents to realize that there are many more careers out there than they may think at first.  For example, if your child is interested in music, it doesn’t mean that being a performer is the only option available to them.  Think of all the careers related to music: performing, producing, songwriting, agent, management, teaching, coordinators of concerts, ticket sales, or maybe they will want to work at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Furthermore, I believe parents who support and encourage children’s interests will help them find activities, volunteer work and/or internships that will look great on resumes and go a long way in assisting their children to find a vocation that will be meaningful and satisfying to them.

This is the biggest reason we want to homeschool.  We want our children to have the freedom to delve into the subjects that make them happy and will make them want to learn.  But you don’t have to homeschool to help your children.  You just have to give them the freedom and support to discover their passion.