Got talent?
Everyone has a talent, what is yours?
My daughter asked me this morning, ” Mom can you help me develop my talent?” I said “sure”, as any good mom would do, but then came the tough question, “Mom, what are my talents?”
That threw me for the loop, my daughter is an absolute doll, I love her fiercely, and she threw me off guard. Everyone has got talent, but what is hers? My reply in all honesty was not the best.
I said, “Why ? You are talented in so many areas, you make your bed so beautifully that means you are good with your hands, you do wonders when you bake..” that did not satisfy her she wanted to know what she is really good at.
So I sat down to work. I never offered her any extra curricular programs for time was not on my side, school did not give her enough time to attend them. The best what I can do is I made a list of what I can do to help her.
Discovering your child’s talent:
- I made a list where her interests lie and what she is good at.
- In order for me to give her more awareness I gave her some books to read.
- I also just sat and watched her interactions and conversations. Where doe she get animated, what does she enjoy doing, what does she gravitate towards? What does she enjoy learning?
- I then gave her some jobs to further develop her interests. We sat down to write a book, I printed out some information for her how to research and plan for writing a book, I gauged her response and saw how she moved along. Did her excitement abate or was she interested?
I exposed her.
I let her lead.
I watched her eyes for excitement.
I was aware that anything can be a talent.
Yes, anything can be a talent that she can take further and use in many ways-
What is the difference between talents and strengths?
What is the difference between talents and skills?
Great question!
Think of it like this, talents are something you were born with. It is inborn. You may need to discover them but once you find them it is easier to develop them.
A skill is something that needs to be worked on. It takes a lot of effort, yet you master them.
A talent is natural, a skill is learned.
Now about strengths.
The interesting part is that strengths are born off of a talent. That means, when one finds their talent and hones it and works on it, it eventually becomes their strength.
Let us say that Dave always spoke well he captured his audience and was able to connect with them, that is a talent. However Dave took it a step further, he continued learning about public speaking, reading up about it and watched great speakers to find out what their appeal is and now he is a great speaker. Public speaking became his strength.
Talent is the potential, strength is the action.
Everyone has got talent! Many times it is more than one!
Strengths that can help her achieve:
List of talents:
enthusiasm
entrepreneurship
curiosity
teamwork
adaptability
decision making
networking-
Talents that would focus on the doing:
writing
public speaking
singing
acting
dancing
drawing
sculpturing
creating
Geniuses do not happen on talent along, there is work and a lot of effort involved. Talent is not only gifted it is built upon layers and layers of hard work.
How to help children succeed with their talent:
- Allow them to imagine becoming the best writer, actor etc, having that vision in front of them and working towards it fires their very being into performing their very best
- Know that mistakes are there to learn from, do not become discouraged from them. Rather use them as stepping stones and building blocks.
- Take your time, do things slowly. Never rush to learn everything all at once. Master something and then move on to the next step. Slow will win the race here, do not overwhelm your child.
- Praise the effort involved- this allows children to take risks. When their natural talent is praised it makes them more cautious and afraid to make mistakes, they will just rely on that.
- Allow the child to take the stand and stand back as the parent, allow them to get their feet wet try something. Allow them to lead.
Talents need to become discovered, then worked on and focused on to turn into strengths.
It is up to you as the parent to be the first one to discover it. You can help you child build upon that and develop innate talent.
Happy searching!