As working adults, or should I say parents, you know first hand the experience of working life.
For those working in jobs you’re not passionate about, you guys know the arduous feeling of leaving your bed every morning to work for 8+ hours which doesn’t excite you at all.
According to The Asean Post, Singapore is the 2nd last place for work engagement in Asia, having just 72% on the Singapore Employee Engagement Index.
Other countries in Asia such as Indonesia, Vietnam, and Philippines have a higher Employee Engagement Rate at 82%.
Furthermore, as compared to other countries in Asia, Singaporeans are more likely to speak ill about their employers, at 33%.
The regional average of employees speaking ill about their workplace is 24%.
Employees tend to be unsatisfied about their job due to the fact they are working in a field they’re not passionate in and their jobs don’t excite them.
With that being said, as parents, you wouldn’t want your precious child to spend the majority of their adult life working a job they’re not passionate about and dreading it everyday, right?
Well, this article is here to give you some tips when it comes to supporting your child in their passion pursuits!
1. Stop Being Overprotective
In most cases, it’ll take quite a while for you to discover your child’s talent and passions.
As young human beings who are new and inexperienced in a lot of things, your child tends to be very curious when it comes to trying out new things such as cooking, reading, sports, etc.
Sometimes as parents, you might fear for your child’s safety when they’re trying something new and disallow them to try new stuff.
But I’m here to tell you that you should actually not be so overprotective and let your child try as many things the world has to offer as possible.
By being overprotective, you’re preventing your child from discovering his/her talent and passion as you’re only allowing them to do the things deemed as safe to you.
You never know, maybe your child has a natural talent and passion when it comes to playing rugby, which is a very physically demanding sport.
But if you forbid your child from playing rugby because of your fear of them getting injured, they might never discover that natural talent they have in themselves.
2. Encourage Your Child to Gain Experience
If your child happens to be more shy and reserved, only doing things in their comfort zone, encourage them to explore and try out new stuff to gain experience and exposure.
For example, you can sign your child up for sports classes as there is a wide variety of sports present for them to try.
It doesn’t matter which sport they choose, so long as they’re interested in it.
You can also sign your child up for music classes, for the same reason that there is a wide variety of instruments they can learn to play.
Be physically there with your child when he/she is exploring and trying new stuff and so they’ll feel more comfortable.
If you don’t encourage your child to try new things, it’s just like forbidding them to step out of their comfort zone.
And because of that, your child might never discover something they’re passionate about or have a talent in.
That’s not the way to go!
3. Don’t Judge Your Child’s Choices
As someone who has more experience about this world, it’s only natural that you want your child to follow your advice and expectations since you know more about life than they do.
You might really want your child to be a lawyer in the future as it’s a very high paying job.
So you start exposing your child to things related to being a lawyer such as making them watch a Netflix series about lawyers, or reading law books to them.
However, things might not always go according to plan.
Your child might be interested in going to the court to play basketball instead of sitting down on the couch to watch series about lawyers.
After finding this out, you might have a strong urge to rectify your child’s decision and try to reason out why you would want him/her to be a lawyer.
But it’s imperative that you resist this strong urge and not judge your child’s choice.
Despite being young and small kids, your child can be as sensitive as a young adult, they will feel rejected if you judge their choice, especially with you being someone who’s supposed to love and support them the most.
4. Nurture Their Talent and Passion
It can take quite a while for your child to discover their talent and passion.
Once you’ve managed to discover them, it’s time to nurture it.
The innate potential your child is born with should be fully supported for it to reach its peak.
For example, if you discover your child has a passion and is talented in football at a young age, you should invest in hiring a professional coach to train and hone his/her skills.
And since I’m talking about talent in sports, you’ve to train your child to stick to an athlete’s diet right from the start so they’ve the right nutrients to help them grow.
Make sure to instil discipline in them to ensure that they don’t slack off after a while as it’ll affect their development.
Remember, hard work beats talent when talent fails to work hard!
5. Instil Optimism into Your Child’s Life
The world we live in is a very competitive place.
There are many self-centered people around, and most people only look out for themselves.
No one wants to lose out.
Because of such stiff competition, people who are deemed as less capable are often left behind.
Which puts a lot of pressure on us.
This leads to a rising number of depression cases globally.
But failing is a part and parcel of life, everybody will go through failures.
Yes, that’s indeed true.
However, only some people can emerge from failure as a stronger person.
If you want to make sure that your child is the “some people who can emerge from failure as a stronger person”, you’ve to instil optimism into his/her life.
Optimistic people tend to be more willing to take healthy risks, have better relationships with people, and are better problem solvers.
Which is why it’s best to support and nurture your child in a less hostile and more pleasant environment.
Conclusion
Not many people are fortunate enough to work a job that they have a passion in.
If given a chance, I’m sure everybody would love to work a job that they enjoy.
If you’re not fortunate enough to work your job of passion, you shouldn’t diminish your child’s chances of one.
They might be able to work a job they enjoy thoroughly in the future if you follow the tips and give them the right support!
Here are some related articles you might like to read:
5 Best Parenting Podcasts for Singapore Parents – To Listen …
Singapore Parents: Should You Let Your Kids Use the Internet?
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