Individual differences are a very natural part of the existence of human beings. Just like adults, children come with individual differences, and it's unfair to compare one child with another. Each child has his own set of unique strengths and weaknesses. These strengths and weaknesses are not just limited to the academic sphere but can be observed in many other facets of life as well. Schools and other educational institutions often view intelligence or smartness as being limited to academics only.
A child's intelligence shouldn't be just defined by his/her academic performance in school. While one child may be academically gifted, the other can be great in vocational arts or sports. Parents need to recognize these talents at a young age to avoid any future anxiety while choosing a potential career prospect.
Before dwelling on how, as a parent, you can analyze your child's interests and strengths, let's have a look at some of the most found strengths and interests among children.
Character strength includes high emotional intelligence in the form of care, empathy, and resilience from an early age.
A child drawn more towards solving mathematical problems and interested in solving mental maths and other such questions can be categorized under this section.
A child who actively participates and performs well in vocational arts, such as dance, painting, music, theatre, and other such domains, is said to be vocationally strong.
This category includes the ability to read and create different types of stories and poems from an early age. A child with strong literary skills may be able to remember even the most minute details about what they have read and show great interest in reading.
A lot of children show promising athletic skills and an interest in pursuing a sport during their childhood. These types of children always gravitate towards remaining in the field and playing all day as long as it gives them great joy and satisfaction.
Parents have to remember that recognizing their child's strengths and interests will be a continuous process. Children go through dynamic stages of development where their interests and strengths might change with time. Hence, it is important to have an accepting mindset. Here are some tips that come in handy for parents.
The most basic thing a parent can do to understand their child’s interests is to be a silent observer of their everyday schedule and activities. Notice if they like reading story books, playing sports, or solving math quizzes. These intrinsic interests can help easily identify underlying passions and future opportunities. Also, this method is quite basic and efficacious.
A child's potential often remains undiscovered because of not being introduced to the right experiences. To understand the true calling of your child, you can try to introduce them to as many new offbeat experiences as possible. Parents can plan treasure-hunting expeditions, photography classes, pottery sessions, horse riding sessions, and many such unconventional things that children otherwise do not get to try daily.
Let them experience these activities and explore what they like doing the most. The more children see the world, the better clarity they get.
Having honest conversations establishes a relationship of trust and understanding among the parents and the child. This allows the child to freely express their desires and interests to his/her parents. In some cases, a child may never be able to express his/her professional desires because of fear of judgment or lack of support from the parents. Hence, fostering open and friendly conversations not only strengthens the parent-child bond but may also pave the way for a strong career trajectory.
Other than conventional toys, parents can also buy specific educational toys and cardboard games for children to interact with and practice different activities through the aid of play. This may include monopoly or business board games to further their business acumen, jigsaw puzzles to enhance problem-solving skills and concentration, musical instrument toys for basic instrument learning, and much more.
This way, parents can teach their children the basics of different disciplines in a fun way. Eventually, each child will be drawn to a specific toy they will play with more than the others. This may signify their interests at an early age.
A lot of modern-day counselors and child psychologists have created very open-ended aptitude tests for children. These tests consist of several objective MCQ-based questions that help in understanding a child's interests and hidden potential. Most of these tests may encompass spatial, numerical, literary, sports, and other disciplines.
These tests don't aim to check a child's academic capacities but highlight hidden potentials and interests. The questions are often open-ended and objective in testing innate abilities and skills.
These are some of the most common ways parents can use to identify their child's interests and strengths. Always remember that each child is different, and while some methods may work on a particular child, others might not.