Ensuring your child develops well-rounded interests can be a tricky thing – it’s great to see your kids growing up with balanced interests and a range of skills, but it’s tough having to drag them unwillingly to the martial arts classes they originally begged to sign up for just three weeks ago, or reminding them for the umpteenth time to practice the piano. Essentially, there’s a fine line to toe between encouraging your kids to try new things and having to force them to keep undertaking activities of which they will eventually grow bored. What’s a conscientious parent to do? Take baby steps. Instead of signing your children up for a year’s worth of expensive dance classes, start out gradually – and show them how to take advantage of the resources at their disposal, to research opportunities available in their area of interest. There are a number of ways you can do this:
Community Centre Activities
If there’s a local community centre where you live, there’s probably a fair few opportunities to take lessons or workshops or even participate in community theatre. As an added bonus, you’ll get to know more people in your neighbourhood by doing so. Get into the habit of keeping an eye on whatever activities are being offered, and encourage your kids to do so as well – it’s a great, convenient way to let your kids develop interests on a low-key scale and let them decide if they want to pursue those interests more closely. If you’re already a regular visitor of your local church, you could encourage your kids to get involved in activities like choir. If nothing else, it’ll be a boost to their confidence skills and may get them a few new friends.
Volunteering Opportunities
This is a tricky one because some volunteering opportunities are limited according to age. Obviously, there are established community service groups like Scouts, Girl Guides, or Samaritans, but children may be able to volunteer to help out at local animal shelters, or at local conservation areas. Once your kids are old enough to be responsible, get them looking around for local volunteer opportunities – especially over the summer months.
Library Time
Encouraging your kids to make use of the local library is excellent in and of itself, but you should definitely use that as a gateway to other library-based activities. Are there reading groups? Do the library staff need help sorting through donations or going through old books that they want to give away? If your child is already an avid reader, they can make friends and get book recommendations by participating in library activities – or maybe they could even start a reading group, if they simply ask permission to do so. This is a great way to show kids that if they’re interested in something, they can create their own opportunities – no doubt it’s the kind of knowledge that will serve them well throughout life.
Online Research
Some parents are understandably anxious about letting their kids use the Internet unsupervised, so this method serves a double purpose: you can show your children how to conduct Internet research as well as reminding them that it’s necessary to do so responsibly and carefully. Are there web sites that advertise opportunities in your area? Is there a Twitter ‘What’s On’ account that you can follow in order to stay updated about new community prospects? Alternately, if your child’s expressing an interest in learning something new, is there a way for him or her to find more information online and maybe even some basic beginners’ lessons? The Internet’s created a lot more access to a variety of resources – you should definitely utilise it when teaching your kids how to show initiative.
Chances To Learn
Extracurricular activities and volunteering opportunities are usually geared towards developing skills outside of the academic classroom world, but studies and research into aspects of pupil engagement remind us that abilities developed outside of a classroom setting can still nonetheless be relevant in a classroom setting. Gaining a deeper understanding of the world around you affords you more opportunities to broaden your scope of study – allowing children to develop an interest in areas of academia that are separate from, but nonetheless relevant to, classroom study. If your child develops an interest in Greek mythology, or how cars work, or in how the government works, always encourage them to develop these interests by conducting their own research on the subject. Becoming a well-rounded individual isn’t just about participating in lots of things, it’s also about developing a rich inner life and interests that shape and define your future.
How do you encourage your children to show initiative and create their own opportunities? Let us know in the comments!
