Parenting — 08 September 2008
Encouraging Passion and Enthusiasm in Children

Encouraging Passion and Enthusiasm

Passionate children are happy children because there is something in their lives that they absolutely love to do. Their zeal for life keeps them buoyed up in the sea of events; they can sail through the rough seas that come along because generally they are enthusiastic and positive. They have a natural in-built resistance.

The way to ignite our own passion is to think of something we love to do, and do more of it.

Make conscious choices to do more each day that leads you closer to them. Then you start to get more excited. You’re not going to be passionate about something that doesn’t interest you. Same goes for our kids.When we have something we love to do we jump out of bed with anticipation. You know the feeling; you can’t wait to get the chores done so that you can get on with what you really want to do.

That’s passion, that’s enthusiasm, that’s the juice of life.

Every kid has something she is interested in. As a parent you can fan the flame, and add lots of fun for her. I’ll bet you can remember way back, a few times with your parent that you spent together doing something – just the two of you. Doesn’t matter what it was, just having their attention on you is what you still remember. Your child is the same. When you both do something that she LOVES, just imagine how that is for her?

Some Pointers/Reminders

Spend one-on-one time together on her hobby. This means giving all your attention – not reading the paper while she plays in the same room

You KNOW you are the role model. When you pursue your favorite sport/gardening/hobby with obvious enjoyment and enthusiasm she learns that hobbies and interests can be fun
Toys, TV, video games and shopping ‘aint it’! She may seem enthusiastic at the time but that soon wears off. She becomes bored and wants more stuff.

Do more of what she loves to do.
The more success she has in her area of interest, the more enthusiastic she will be.

Remember that kids change and move on. When she has conquered one skill, and learnt heaps about something she is interested in, that sometimes is enough and she moves on.

Just because YOU love tennis, gardening, cooking …. doesn’t mean she will. We don’t want to impose our passion on our children, though more often than not, they will copy us anyway.

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Kytka Hilmar-Jezek

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