How to Teach Your Child a New Skill or Hobby This Summer
How to Teach Your Child a New Skill or Hobby This Summer
Cultivating hobbies is essential in developing well-rounded and balanced personalities, giving your children the character and strength to thrive in life
We are all born with great gifts, this summer give your children a free hand to pursue their passions and unearth their gifts
Life is a great opportunity, an opportunity to make the best use of the gifts we have been endowed with, an opportunity to make this existence worthwhile and meaningful.
We can make this life worthwhile only by the best use of it. We can make the best use of this life by acquiring great skills and characteristics and using them to make this world a better place.
Being useful to others and making a positive difference in the world should be the goal of every human being. This can never be achieved only by being brilliant academically. We can’t become better people and solve the world’s problems by just memorising text book theories and acquiring bookish knowledge.
Life skills, depth of thought, character, attitude and a great vision are some of the ingredients of a great personality. We have to work like a sculptor for years to shape our personalities in the best image possible and the ingredients mentioned above play a huge role in giving our personalities the right shape.
Summer vacation is the best time to focus on this all important task of acquiring new life skills and developing the thought and vision to become a great person.
Cultivating hobbies
Hobbies play an important role in a person’s life and often some of these hobbies go on to become their lifelong passion and even transform into lucrative careers.
Hobbies have turned around lives of many great inventors and leaders, who started pursuing their hobbies of building machines or working with a skill early in life, which went on to become not just life changing, rather world changing.
The story of Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple Computers and inventor of the iPhone that revolutionised several industries at the same time, is well known. Working with electronic devices and gadgets was his passion and he also had the vision to pursue it as a profession as he grew up, turning a backyard garage endeavour into the world’s most valuable company.
So, this summer encourage your child to pursue their passions and hobbies, it could range from fiddling with small devices, learning new languages, stitching, gardening, pursuing a sport or reading.
We are all born with certain gifts and with the year long academic race in the schools it is hard for the children to unearth these gifts. Summer is the best time for children take a pause, relax and reflect on their strengths, weakness and interests.
Machines
If your child has an unusual love for machines and gadgets then go ahead and get some small motors or devices and let them open these and look inside. Seeing how a machine or a motor works could give them great ideas into developing better models of the same device. It will make them think.
They can also get their hands on old unused devices lying in your attic such as an old mechanical clock, a calculator, a watch, an old radio etc. If you can’t find any of these at home then you may find some of these in the scrap.
Getting scrapped devices for their initial learnings could be the best way to start. Scrap material such as metal, plastic, wood etc could also be used to build your own objects.
As a more serious step, enrol your child in a local garage as an apprentice of a veteran mechanic or technician, this is the oldest and best template to get your child initiated into a field of practical knowledge.
Language
Language is intrinsic to being human. Language is the tool through which we communicate and express ourselves and having a good command over at least a couple of languages is essential for success in life.
The importance of language cannot be overstated as it is the miracle upon which the entire edifice of human progress is based.
Language is not just used for speaking and writing, it is the only tool through which we learn, teach and explain things.
Language is essential for trade and business as well as diplomacy and governance. Hence, language is central to everything that we do.
Great personalities across history have been seen as polyglots, people who had command over multiple languages. It is an ability that makes people straddle through multiple cultures, understanding the various strands of human legacy.
Some of us have natural affinity towards languages and summer is the best time to learn that new language your child always wanted learn, away from the pressures of the academic performance.
In the modern times, with the advent of the Internet and smart phones, learning a new language has become very easy. There are several high quality apps and platforms that teach languages in a fun way, making the acquisition of new languages both easy and entertaining.
Having command over more than one international languages could also help your child’s career prospects. Studies have proven that learning new and complex languages such as Arabic helps improve the learner’s intellectual abilities.
Reading
Reading is an important skill to have. Once acquired it will be with you forever, guiding you and giving you greater confidence to speak and engage with others.
Reading regularly not only helps you in gaining diverse knowledge, it also makes you a better and more fluent speaker, while enhancing your language skills and developing your personality in more ways than you can imagine.
All great leaders of the world have been great readers. Reading gives you a kind of insight that you would otherwise not find elsewhere. Reading gives you the broadness of perspective and the clarity of vision. It will make you more appreciative of the people and events around you, because through reading you get exposed to a variety of cultures, perspectives and experiences.
Volunteering
Volunteering for charities and NGOs opens up new avenues, perspectives and an entirely new world for young people.
Apart from helping acquire new skills, volunteering offers life lessons and gives volunteers exposures to varied realities of life.
Volunteers get to see life more closely and appreciate our privileges that we often take for granted. It will also inculcate the qualities of patience, kindness and compassion among young people.
Working in a slum, distributing food or sharing skills with poor children can develop an attitude of caring and giving among our little ones.
Volunteering helps develop personalities, built qualities of empathy and leadership skills, which can come in handy at all stages of life across different careers.
Miscellaneous
From cooking and painting to stitching and knitting there could be many more hobbies that your child can try this summer. These hobbies my seem ordinary, but they have been life changing for many and continue to be so even now, especially in our times of social media.
Cooking is both nurturing, relaxing, creative and lucrative. Hundreds of men and women across the world pursued their hobby or passion for cooking or baking and turned it around into successful careers that have gone on to become world famous brands.
A random stroke of a brush could literally turn around your future for better.
One of the most influential artists of the modern era, Vincent Van Gogh, pursued painting as a hobby as a child as he was not interested in formal schooling. What started as a hobby turned into an undying passion and the rest as they say is history. What is surprising is that Van Gogh was almost entirely self taught. So, if you have the elements for the brush and canvas, pursue it and find your strokes, you never know, you could most certainly be the next Van Gogh.
Same goes with fashion designers and textile artists. Some of the world’s best known designers such as Giorgio Armani, Pierre Cardin, Miuccia Prada and Coco Chanel began their work as a hobby and were entirely self taught. What began as a passion transformed into global brands through consistent efforts and sheer handwork.
So, never take your hobbies lightly, find time for your passions everyday. If not during the school days, give extra time and put extra efforts to enhance your skills during holidays. Who knows, your efforts could elevate you on the big stage!