In her research into why some people succeed, Angela Duckworth author of perhaps the most famous book on resilience, found at the heart of each individual story of resilience success, there was a meeting of ‘passion and perseverance’. Being passionate about something helps you be more motivated to persevere.
So, how do you help your kids to find their passion?
The simplest way is to try lots of different activities, as Duckworth says ‘don’t be afraid to guess’. We second that, because on a hunch, we took our kids indoor climbing recently and they loved it.
However, if you want to avoid the legwork involved in this scattergun approach, we would recommend that you copy Jane Andraka. In her fantastic TedTalk 'Hijacking your child's education', she talks about how she first tried the scattergun approach but success came when she started to look for activities for her kids to do that lay in the intersection of their interests and their talents.
So, if your kid loves computer games (interest) and has a logical mind (talent), try programming, or game design, or robotics. If they like fashion (interest) and are good at drawing (talent) why not look at fashion design, or sewing classes.
Click below for some more tips and ideas about how to help your child find and develop their passion.