All Ages Supporting Your Child's Inner Talent

gracer

gracer

Legacy Member
As early as age 2, I noticed how my child loved to scribble things down on paper or just create all sorts of lines and curves using a pen or a pencil. By the time he turned 3, he started becoming so engrossed with playing clays and creating all sorts of shapes and things. Until now that he is almost 7-years-old, he still draws a lot and he still plays with clays. His imagination is always at work whenever he does what he loves best, and that is drawing and forming different things out of his favorite hobbies.

As a mom, I try to support the talent I see in him by providing him what he needs and appreciating his finished works. I believe that supporting our kid's passion from an early age will help him develop whatever skills are innately with him until he grows up to be whatever he wants to be. A parent's support and encouragement are very important in ensuring that a child's inner skills and talent are nourished well.
 
The individual talent that a child h's aas can often get overlooked or even taught out of them so to speak because it isn't nourished as well as it should be but a lot of that isn't the parent or teachers fault, its the fault of the system itself. The national curriculum put's precedent on certain subjects and teachers get caught up in having to make sure that all children are competent in set subjects and sometimes that comes as a detriment to the child other talents. That then can also rub off on the parent and if their child can play bass guitar at 3 years old but can't do simple reading and spelling then they are obviously told to prioritise the reading and spelling.

Talents need to be nurtured just as much as the formal education but unfortunately, ask anybody in the teaching profession they would love to be able to help develop the next child prodigy but they can't as they are bogged down with helping them to try and pass the next exam that the government as decided to bring in and that includes exams that even 4 and 5 year old's are expected to take.
 
I guess this is why some parents prefer to unschool their kids and help them learn according to their interests and passion. Most school curriculum have become so standardized that sometimes they don't fit a child's learning abilities anymore. What's even worse is the demand and pressure that the system requires students to acquire on a specific given period when there's the fact that different children have different needs and paces of learning.
 
It's true that more and more parents these days are choosing other alternatives when it comes to educating their children with home schooling being on the increase as it has been for a number of years now. While they do still have to stick to the specific curriculum set by the local education authorities, it does provide a certain amount of leeway to be able to concentrate on other things as well, such as prioritising the individual child's needs.

Personally I'm not a big advocate of home schooling children, and while like I say it does mean you can tailor the subjects taught to a certain extent, I do think the child misses out on the social aspects of going to school with other children. No matter what talents your child possesses, social interaction is also important so I do think that there needs to be a balance brought in, and maybe a compromise to ho the schooling is run. Instead of it being Monday to Friday 8.30 till 3.30 as it is in most schools, either make the school day shorter or the week itself? That way at least while the child is still learning the core subjects, they will also have more time to concentrate on their individual talents also.
 
Good point you have there. This is how my husband also feels about homeschooling. I actually considered homeschooling our son last year but my husband pointed out the importance of socialization for our child and how he can gain his social skills in a regular school with children in the same life stage as he is.
 
Your husband is a wise man gracer haha! For some children then homeschooling might be the answer but before I would go down that route I would take into consideration all the factors involved and interaction with other children of the same age is key to a child's development almost as much as the education they receive itself.

Every child is obviously going to be different with different need that need focusing on, but a lot of people think that teaching a child at home will solve all the problems they may be having, but while it may solve some, it can also create other issues as well.
 
You're right pwarbi. :) I have actually noticed my son's social skills improve over the past 2 years that he has been attending regular school compared to his old way of being too shy when in front of new people. His inhibitions lessened gradually and is now actively involved in his school activities. This is one thing I'm really thankful for when it comes to regular schools.
 
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