Children are a great source of joy to any family. From as early as 4 years, they talk a lot and question a lot too. Their innocence is incredibly wonderful. Their passions, hobbies, and even careers can easily be noticed. It is a good thing to tap into these passions early and help them grow towards the path of their career. As a parent, you can help them along that path, since sometimes some of them may not be sure of what they are to be, especially when they are multi-talented. Below are simple ways a parent can nurture the career goals and aspirations of his/her child.
10 Tips on How to Support Your Child’s Goals
Sometimes, it could be tricky for a parent to ascertain and monitor the passions of a child, with the sole aim of developing their career. But note that it is important to support your child’s hobbies. Supporting their career goals and aspirations has various advantages, some of which include;
- In their hobbies, the feel-good chemical called dopamine is released. This is due to the joy of doing what they are passionate about. This also helps in self-esteem
- In doing multiple activities of interest, they get to know their area of interest, and what fascinates them the most.
- It helps them to connect with others, other children with a passion for the same hobbies. Their network therefore increases.
- By supporting them in their hobbies, they get preoccupied with these activities, therefore avoiding getting indisciplined.
Are you a parent wondering how you can support and nurture your child’s passions? Grab your favorite drink and read these awesome tips below.
Supporting Their Interests
A parent will always want what is best for his or her child. If the parent is successful in a certain career, or passionate about certain hobbies, he/she would most likely want to push the child in that line as well.
This isn’t an ideal step to take. Your child is unique and has his/her areas of interest. It would be best to let the child participate in activities or hobbies of his/her choice, the ones he or she is passionate about. This would give them confidence, joy, and the urge to focus more on excelling in it.
Be sensitive to noticing their hobbies and support them towards career goals and aspirations they have. You could, for instance, notice your child tends to care for others more. When playing, or when doing house chores, she/he helps around. If he/she has a younger sibling, keep on playing around and taking care of them. This kind of child has the potential of becoming a good nurse, and thus nursing jobs would be the ideal career for him/her.
Children don’t like criticism when it comes to their hobbies. Provide your child with many opportunities to develop their passion and career. Some of the ways you can support a child’s passion, hobbies, and careers are;
- Give them space, and the materials required.
- Avoid dragging them to hobbies you prefer.
- Suggest to them other hobbies that could grow their careers. But this should be simply suggesting to them, not forcing.
- Encourage them often. When they fail, motivate them to rise and move on
When is Your Child Happiest?
The one natural thing about doing what one is passionate about, is the flow of joy, happiness, and a sense of satisfaction. Likewise, for your child, no matter the age, some activities fascinate him/her the most. These activities give him/her a kind of pleasure that makes him/her not want to stop. Besides the joy a hobby can bring to a child, other benefits of hobbies are;
- Helps in reducing stress, especially from the pressure to excel, performance, goals, etc.
Helps develop creativity.
- The child gets physically fit, especially with outdoor hobbies like sports.
- By interacting with other children with similar passions or hobbies, their social skills get developed.
- Hobbies tend to make a child focus and concentrate more. This has the positive effect of improving and sharpening their skills, like problem-solving, analyzing.
- Through the compliments they get and their achievements, their emotional health is taken care of naturally
Observe your child keenly to identify the activities that instill great joy and happiness. These are the hobbies that you should help the child concentrate on. Career goals and aspirations require that a child is happy at what he/she is doing. This would help in perfecting the work. A child who is fascinated whenever taken to a pasta restaurant could be easy at developing, perfecting, and excelling in pasta making.
Not Giving Up
One of the most retrogressive steps is giving up on one’s career path. Children tend to try various things. When they are into a particular hobby, passion, or career path, they may get discouraged easily when faced with challenges like time, lack of specific types of equipment, non-recognition out there, and other obstacles.
Career goals and aspirations are not easy sometimes to accomplish. And surrendering becomes the next easy option. Encourage your child to never give up. Walk with him/her in those career goals. Suggest various solutions. Read to them or show them documentaries of various great people who made it despite similar obstacles.
The benefits of a child not giving up are:
- They develop emotional intelligence, through discipline, patience, persistence
- Fear is eliminated, because they face almost everything.
- More options for creativity emerge.
- It feels great to finally make it.
When doing home repairs, and your child freely helps too, or when playing, loves constructing objects, the home building career would be the ideal choice for him/her. This may not be all that easy, but with passion, the child will make it, because career goals and aspirations are fuelled by passion.
Never Kill Their Dream
Most probably, you have heard of how children, even as small as 5 years, (though some are not even sure of what they mean), would talk of great career goals and aspirations. Things like, ‘When I grow up, I want to be an astronomer’, and ‘When I grow up, I want to be among respiratory therapists in our country’.
Some may not even understand the careers they are mentioning. However ridiculous it may sound, don’t put them off. Don’t dismiss their dreams. Don’t say, ‘No, you can’t do that, it’s impossible’. Rather, talk in a language of positivity, a language of possibilities. Tell them their dreams are valid.
Supporting Curiosity
All children are generally curious. They are fond of asking a lot of questions, some of which may sound unique or unexpected. One such example is when a 5-year-old asks where children come from!
Encouraging their curiosity, more so in their hobbies, is important. Take time to sufficiently answer them all in a language the child can understand. They learn by observing and listening. So be careful when answering them.
The benefits of these curiosities in a child are;
- Makes them happy about the surrounding environment, always wanting to learn more
- Helps in expanding their thinking
- They become good at receiving information
- Makes their minds more active
- They become open-minded
- They develop the habit of learning
A child may ask you how Pokemon cards are played, and whether you can play with them. Take the time to train the child in how the card game is played and play with him/her. This helps in bonding, and in playing, a lot can be talked out, including the career goals and aspirations of the child.
Doing New Things Together
Children may find it difficult to invite you to their hobbies, especially teenagers. It would be good as a parent to invite him to do some activities together. This move would help a lot in bonding with your child.
When sharing hobbies with your child, be creative so that he/she doesn’t feel out of place. You could engage and introduce bit by bit because presenting the entire hobby may be difficult for him/her to break it down to understand. Cheer loudly to the progress the child makes. Also, try to make the activity a great memorable experience. Like when going for a walk, or to an auto shop, you could engage your child on various body parts of automobiles, different types of cars, and so forth. It may spark some interest in automobiles, making the child develop a passion for it, consequently taking that career path of dealing with automobiles.
It boasts self-esteem and confidence, knowing that their time, affection, and attention are appreciated by their parents. When you get into playing with your child, doing an activity together, they tend to trust you more and become more open. It equally sends them a message that one can learn new hobbies. When they see a parent learning new things, it sets a good example for them. All these shared activities are geared toward finding passions that would develop the career goals and aspirations of the child.
Providing Space and Equipment
Hobbies come with their respective requirements, primarily space to perform, known as a hobby room, and types of equipment needed. For each hobby to be fulfilling, beneficial, and successful, some types of equipment may be needed. Some private schools have the advantage of offering these requirements to children as part of their co-curricular activities.
Allow the child to utilize these facilities fully, and their career goals and aspirations will be shaped and developed in the best possible way.
Knowing the World
The world is full of different cultures and customs which can help in diversifying careers, hobbies, and passions. You can do that by taking trips around some parts of the world and watching documentaries that provide such world matters. This exposes your child to the outer world. A child with a passion for traveling, viewing landscapes, and an interest in houses can make such a successful travel blogger, real estate agent, or an entrepreneur in the travel business.
Some of the great benefits of real estate careers include helping one to grow at a pace one is comfortable with, it is a lifetime career, and you get to enjoy a lot of free time since you get to plan your work. Therefore, career goals and aspirations of a child becoming a real estate agent need to be motivated.
Don’t Be Judgemental
One of the worst things you can do to a child is to be harsh and judgemental. This has the effect of killing their morale, lowering self-esteem, and damaging their emotional intelligence, among other negative effects.
When your child talks of lawyers as his/her favorite professionals, yet you talk negatively or reprimand him/her about that career, he/she may feel offended, rejected, and unloved. A child with these in mind may never deliver in life, and their career goals and aspirations may be greatly affected.
Teach Values for Work
Sometimes children may only be interested in the fun, joy, and fulfillment they get from their passion, not minding about the respect for work done. The fame of having made it, and recognition by other people may blind the more important thing in a career; work respect.
Career goals and aspirations of becoming one of the most in demand careers, such as eye doctors, can make you feel like a celebrity, but if work ethics are lacking, then it becomes a career on the path to downfall. Therefore, when nurturing the passions of the child, which would mostly develop into a career, instill good values for work.
Passion for any work or activity is crucial for better delivery. Sometimes, children may not be sure of their area of interest. Parents and even teachers, come in handy in helping them out.
Some simple ways a parent can help a child find his/her passion include;
- Nurturing the talents
- Challenging your child in various activities, so that the best of them comes out
- Spending time with the child
- Let the child be engaged in the chores you partake in. Along the path, areas of interest will pop up
- When doing their homework, oversee them
- If there are classes for instruments, enroll them
- Also, enroll them in sports
Career goals for a child are what makes a child successful in his/her hobbies and passions. When you wonder what path your child should take! When you are defeated by how you can be instrumental in your child’s career, use the above tips, and you will make your child the greatest in his/her career.
