Do kids excel in most things their parents did....

r2i_Jan_2008 · Post by **r2i_Jan_2008** » Mon May 17, 2010 7:32 pm

Just thinking if kids naturally get the talent/flair for certain things from their parents. I notice that I love teaching my son math, reasoning, science. Not so much drawing & painting. Gotta make an effort at sports.
I bet if I took an equal amount of interest teaching him music, sports & arts - he would love those too. But those don't come naturally to me....

would love to hear from parents with older kids and see how they help develop their kids talent and abilities. Do you have a budding musician or artist and you have no clue about music or art ? Just trying to see how these parents have managed to teach their kids something thats not in their comfort zone.

gurusw · Post by **gurusw** » Mon May 17, 2010 10:04 pm

Search on "nature vs nurture" on Google and you will get million hits and interesting articles. If you have more time read 'Outliers' and 'Talent is overrated'. You will start believing that everything can be taught.

r2i-mumbai · Post by **r2i-mumbai** » Mon May 17, 2010 10:21 pm

I don't have older kids so I am not really the one that you are looking for. IMO, beyond a certain age, we can not really teach much to the kids but we can certainly create an environment in which kids will develop interest in some areas and learn by themselves. That is easier for us in our areas of interest.
e.g. if we have a mega TV and music systems vs bookshelves at home, we are creating an environment that will build interest in arts & music. Kids get clues from everything that we do and through these clues we can align there interests with ours.

r2i_Jan_2008 · Post by **r2i_Jan_2008** » Mon May 17, 2010 11:42 pm

My point exactly. We tend to create an environment such that kids build interest in certain things. Growing up in mumbai...we were never exposed much to different sports, skating, skiing, music, arts....Not to start a debate of indian v/s US education...but these facts are true for me & hubby. Grades were everything in school. When your son says that he wants to play tennis, play piano....what do you do ? Ofcourse join a class...but parents who already know some of these things can handle it better. Kinda see if they have an initial interest and then continue it in some formal class etc.

r2i-mumbai;289031Kids get clues from everything that we do and through these clues we can align there interests with ours.

GutsyGibbon · Post by **GutsyGibbon** » Tue May 18, 2010 12:16 am

As a child my heart raced twice as fast every time I heard a Yezdi/Bullet go past my house.I see the same kind of interest in my kids. Are we genetically wired to love two wheelers? A little bit of both, I say.

r2i-mumbai · Post by **r2i-mumbai** » Fri May 21, 2010 3:43 am

If your kid is interested in something that is not your area of expertise then finding a guru or mentor who is an expert in that area will definitely help. You as a parent can use your network and experience to find such a mentor that you can trust to guide your child in his/her area of interest.

In hindsight, looking back 20 years of my life, I can say if I had a mentor in my area of interest things could have been lot different. I wouldn't have had to learn so many things the hard way.

Kids tend to learn things on their own but they can also find their own mentor. You can train your child to seek advice beyond his/her usual network and broaden the network in the process. A broad network is essential to find the right mentor. You can then use your experience to judge if your kid's role model is a true and trustworthy mentor.