Inculcate Having A Hobby

When I was a child, my hobby was to write….anything☺. A hobby makes a child feel independent and important as he makes a choice for himself….he takes his first, baby-step toward making his own decision. Yes, as a parent, at times it is difficult to let go. We want to decide everything for our child, his food, his sleeping pattern, the clothes that he wears and so on and so forth. But some things are best left to our kids.

Let us look at a few more facts as to why our children need to inculcate hobbies and how we can guide them:

• Individuality

A hobby is personal and individual….if your friend’s kid likes to dance, it is not necessary that your child, too, would or should like it. Please do not try and impose your preferences on your kid. Let him choose and figure out for himself. Allow him to be an individual ☺

• After school activities:

In our changing times, schools, too, have a lot of after school activities, like sports sessions (soccer, tennis) and art and craft. More often than not, our kid chooses what he wants to opt for. Various other institutes and academies, too, offer a lot of hobby and recreational options. Let your kid take a call. If he prefers the school environment, allow him to attend the classes of his choice. It is convenient for you as well. But if your child wants to explore options outside school, please encourage him. A different physical environment and a different group of children are healthy for his personal development.

• Responsibility:

Once our child decides what he wants to pursue, he would also learn to grow more responsible. Since it would be his personal choice, he would pursue it more responsibly. After all, the pride and happiness that he would experience when he flaunts his skills in front of you would be incomparable, isn’t it?

• Prioritizing:

This is ‘responsibity’s’ twin sister. Tell me friends, when we feel responsible for ourselves and our actions, don’t we also learn to prioritise? The answer is a ‘yes’☺. Our child, too, would take time out for his hobby. He would decide how to divide time between his school work, his friends and his hobby.

• Set an example:

My mother used to be an avid reader. As a child, I watched her read and fell in love with reading and as a natural progression, writing. It is not necessary that your child would adopt the same hobby. Children emulate us so they, too, would try and develop a similar passion for something. This interest would soon grow into a hobby, which might become a future career option.

• Monitor screen time:

At times, our kids are so busy with their television programs, their iPads and video games that hobbies are unable to blossom due to paucity of time. As parents, we need to guide our children and encourage them to discover themselves through their hobbies.

Mums and dads, hobbies are tools of personal expression and learning for our children. They help our little ones to set goals for themselves and achieve them, too. God bless ☺