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discovering passion pursuit

DISCOVERING THE PASSION IN YOUR CHILD

Passion isn’t a trajectory for a successful life. It
isn’t the thing that guarantees a college acceptance or a six-figure
salary.  Passion is a source of interest and excitement and it’s unique to
each individual, but passion isn’t a life sentence. It can shift and change as
kids grow. And it can’t be forced. Passion is the greatest gift of
self-discovery
Katie
Hurley

I was opportune to meet a lady few days ago
who has abandoned all to chase a passion, she refers to herself as ‘The Lady Painter’
and it’s been trademarked. A brief chat with her gave me hope and inspiration
that some people still live for the now and not in the fear of ’bread’ for
tomorrow. The strong desire to splash colours and creatively transform any
space with her hands oozed through as we spoke. Wow!  I hugged her real tight and encouraged her to stay
on the path of the calling. You can check out her blog
.

It is even mind blowing to know she recently
tendered her resignation in one of the major financial institutions in Nigeria
to pursue this passion. Waoh!! We all know that very few people venture into
the unknown bravely; especially in today’s economy. More so, with a lot of us coming
from backgrounds where pursuing a career is celebrated above following a
passion, (you can now interpret my exclamation better). Do not get me wrong,
building and pursuing a career is beautiful, but for some people the debris of
their once hallowed passion is buried within this career obsession. The fear of
living this comfort zone and its predictable income is often the inhibiting
factor.

I know that most people were created to be
celebrated from the platform of the market place (career), in truth those lot are
consciously living their passion and being paid for it! Others are just
‘existing’ going through an ordeal of earning a daily income and hating their
cowardice at not being able to do what their heart truly desires; while a few
others combine career and passion.

All these examples and experiences have
occurred from generation to generation. The question on my mind is – what are
we bequeathing to the next generation? Are we truly living on “Purpose”? Are we
setting the right foundation and training our children in the ‘way they should
go’?

This post is not about leaving a paid
job/career for a passion nor do I intend to educate anyone on discovering
passion! Google can help out *winks*.  I
just want to direct our thoughts to ways we can create enabling atmosphere for
our children to discover, grow and live out their passion without fear and
to celebrate The Lady Painter’s courage.

Merriam-Webster
defines passion as a strong feeling of enthusiasm or excitement for something
or about doing something. 

Hurley, Katie in her book ‘The Happy Kid Handbook: How to Raise Joyful
Children in a Stressful World
’ aptly explains 4 strategies to support
children’s pursuit of passion:


1. Know
your child’s unique interests
– Take the time to know and understand your
child’s interests. Observe your child at play, ask open-ended questions and
listen when your child shares his/her dreams.

2. Think
outside the box.
Passion
exists everywhere, not just on the playing field or in a music room. Parents
have a tendency to lean on organized sports and highly structured enrichment
classes, but passion can play out right in your own home. Building, knitting,
cooking and writing can all be done without structure and guided instruction.
When parents
worry less about resume building and focus on what makes kids thrive, children
find their unique interests and are happier for it.
3. Nurture
optimism
We live in a
competitive world and kids experience a significant amount of pressure to
perform. When they fall short, they feel deflated. We all fail at times, that’s
a part of life. If we want to raise “can-do” kids who can work through failure
and come out stronger, it is
wise to nurture optimism. Optimistic kids are
more willing to take healthy risks, better problem-solvers and experience
positive relationships.
You can nurture optimism in your family
by starting each day on a positive note, teaching them to view setbacks as
temporary, modeling optimism and confronting negative self-talk. When kids feel
confident in their abilities, they find their passions.
4. Avoid
being judgmental
You
might really
love baseball and you probably couldn’t wait
for your little boy to reach the ‘Little League’ age, but he might really want
to stay home and work on his rock collection instead. Resist the urge and avoid
judging your children’s choices. When kids feel judged by their parents, they
feel rejected by the people who are supposed to love them the most.
It’s important to step back from our own needs
and let kids be kids. The rock collection will probably come and go and in a
few years your child might be really passionate about the violin. We can’t
predict where our kids will end up and pushing them toward a certain passion
won’t guarantee happiness or success. We can support them in the now and allow
them the freedom to pave their own road to happiness.






Hurley,
Katie. The Happy Kid Handbook: How to Raise Joyful Children in a Stressful
World. New York: Jeremy P. Tarcher/Penguin, 2015.

Image source – Goggle

3 Comments

  • Reply
    Anonymous
    July 18, 2016 at 5:55 am

    Nice one, parents must really try not to force their passion on their kids.

    RonksD

  • Reply
    Doxa
    July 10, 2016 at 1:33 pm

    Nice one dear!! More grace…

  • Reply
    Anonymous
    July 9, 2016 at 2:13 pm

    This is a great home truth. God continually feed your intellect with words of wisdom.

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