How do u know what is your child's interest..?

Reply to How do u know what is your child's interest..? on Thu, 28 Apr 2016 05:28:56 GMT

Sarah Ng SW — Thu, 28 Apr 2016 05:28:56 GMT

It is praise worthy to have you take notice of your girl's interest and want to encourage the growth in these areas. There is so much we can talk about the kinds and types of interest a child can have. There are also countless psychological writings we can read online. But after all, it is about the practical in what we can do for a child.

Things are rather straightforward as to how to know what she is interested in and which enrichment class should she get into. Indeed to just be aware of the emotional attachment of something not fully because of genuine interest. If she show interest in cooking, let her do simple cooking with you. If she is in preschool, you can let her throw in noodles or vegetables and if she is older, let her assist you in chopping up ingredients. The time you two spend together will be a lot more meaningful then to just send her to a enrichment class. Since she love to draw and is good at it, let her do so and you can find plenty of art related DIYs from internet. From crafts (e.g. making flower paper and making birthday cards) to painting and drawing (e.g. vegetable stamping and different painting and drawing mediums). Explore all of them with your girl. :hi5:

All children (and adults) loves doing things that are fun to them. Well, who would not like to have play time? Just tap onto her interest and as you play with her, there are many things as to being able to teach her along the way. Giving an example of how that can work out, there was a Primary 3 boy I once taught. He was doing so terribly in science and never want to sit down and do any science related subjects. Also, like most boys, he loves playing card games, fighting games and such. Tapping onto his interest, I created and handmade a board-game injecting PSLE science and math syllables into the board game. As you would imagine, he love playing the board game. He then genuinely looks forward to play the game and as a Primary 3 \"slow learner\", he actually started and did well in learning PSLE science stranded questions. Interests are crucially important in a child's learning experience. Tap into her interest and you will see her bloom like nothing else.

All of us are still in a growing and exploration process. So don't be too caught up with wanting to fully understand your daughter. After all, she have such a happy exploration mind. Likely, she will have a whole ton of things she may be interested in. In the things that she likes, she will naturally excel in, and vice versa. If you want really clear indications , simply encourage her to express herself, to keep communication open to you. Would that not be a way easier method as to knowing what she wants to do and is interested in?

Cheers to your parental journey of learning and fun.
:rahrah:

@momkiasu, you may wanna change the center fast?

Reply to How do u know what is your child's interest..? on Tue, 29 Mar 2016 01:30:40 GMT

momkiasu — Tue, 29 Mar 2016 01:30:40 GMT

Hello there.

You can try experimenting with different activity with your child to test out where his/her real interest lies. For my girl, whenever i bring her to do sporty activities, she is very excited compared to when i bring her for music classes. She loves to sing but she definitely do not enjoy being in music class.

Good to know your child's interest to help them along. But do not cramp too much activities on them, they are still children afterall.

Reply to How do u know what is your child's interest..? on Mon, 28 Mar 2016 14:12:19 GMT

fable — Mon, 28 Mar 2016 14:12:19 GMT

I am lucky to be working part-time and able to spend a fair bit of time with my son. Until he started kindergarten, he did not go to school. Instead we spent the time at the park, cycling, going for sessions at the kid’s gym, swimming, or just coming along with me as I ran errands. There was lots of time to do various activities. By the time he was 5 he was attending weekly art, drum, roller-blading, swimming, wushu and chinese lessons. My deal with him was that he could start anything he was interested in (well, almost), but had to stick with it for at least 6 months because we didn’t want him to dabble, and give up on things once they didn’t seem as fun or easy.

He’s now 11 and is still doing drumming, swimming and wushu, as well as training and taking part in run races and triathlons. These days in school he is trying to teach himself chess by watching the good chess players play during recess, and working on solving his rubik’s cube in under 2 minutes. I don’t know what he will be interested in in the years to come, but I’m glad we instituted this 6 month minimum agreement. I think that is one of the reasons why he has developed so many interests.

Im not saying that my son is particularly talented or capable. For instance for the first 2 or 3 years he learned the drums, he practiced his drums on his pillows because
a)I wasn’t convinced he would stick to learning the drums, and
b) i didn’t want to subject the neighbours to his far from rhythmic playing. But a year or 2 ago it finally seemed to make sense to him, and now he plays whenever he wants to destress or rest from work.

So my advice from my limited experience is to let the kids play, get a commitment from them when it comes to a class that costs money & commitment, and don’t expect them to be good just because they are interested. Its good enough that they enjoy what they do.

Reply to How do u know what is your child's interest..? on Sat, 23 Jan 2016 09:50:42 GMT

ryuunix — Sat, 23 Jan 2016 09:50:42 GMT

Hi Lost Kitty, let me try to answer your question.

1) Have a session with your girl for each of them and see how she response to it. After the session, check in on which is her preference. BE careful not to judge or change her response because children at that age can feel emotionally and ended up "liking" for the sake of acceptance.

2) Setup expectation with her on what she expects from the course if she is going to learn on a longer term. Help to facilitate by sharing with her what she can expect. Will be good to show her videos of those trained dancers, performers, etc. This will help her to go towards an endpoint that she can foresee.

3) Throughout her different life stages, her interests and focus will change so patiently workout with her. many parents are unaware why their children wants to do or learn many things. That is because their base fundamental needs are not being handled. (that will be a long topic for another day). Otherwise, it is important for yourself not to impose on your children (well everyone has preferences, including parents)

4) Through time, the choices will be streamlined and she will start to see common points (towards commitment and mastery). It is important not to give pressure because of the exams (piano, ballet, etc) structure that the world has created, which sets a different expectation for them.

my 2 cents.

Reply to How do u know what is your child's interest..? on Fri, 11 Dec 2015 08:24:27 GMT

lostkitty — Fri, 11 Dec 2015 08:24:27 GMT

Hi Parents, I need advice on how to know my child’s interest.

In fact, I intend to let my 4 YO girl learn ballet / music (Piano lesson) / Arts and Craft / Swimming. There are a lot of stuffs that I wanted to let my girl to learn but I know it will be too much for her. I need to identify what my girl interest is so that can directly introduce the class to her.

She attend childcare Mon - Fri and from the teacher feedback is that she likes Speech & Drama. When playing TV in school like Hi-5, my girl will get down from the chair and dance & sing along.

I have shown her the Youtube ballet and she seems not interest at all. I casually ask her what she like: Dancing, singing or drawing. She said drawing.

At home, I hardly tell what she likes.

Should I let her attend those classes I have mentioned above and see if she likes? How to tell and how long will I know whether my girl show interest on the class?

Reply to How do u know what is your child's interest..? on Thu, 17 Nov 2011 09:34:17 GMT

CHICC Profiling — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 09:34:17 GMT

Hi YellowBelt

What you have said is very true indeed! Research has shown the child’s CHARACTER does not change. There is a difference between the child’s nature (inborn character) , and nurture (nurtured traits, behaviour and personality).

In fact, from analysing their date of birth, we can quickly and easily tell what is their "nature", their inborn talents, capabilities etc. That makes our nurturing job all the more effective, since we can direct them to the RIGHT courses, programs based on what we understand of their inborn CHARACTER.

Reply to How do u know what is your child's interest..? on Tue, 06 Sep 2011 16:43:58 GMT

notakidnoraparent — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 16:43:58 GMT

I believe that there are a few kinds of interest.

1. Nurtured interest
2. Influenced interest
3. Natural interest

Nurtured interest develops when the parents expose to the child or the child is exposed to a hobby or activity long enough that they slowly start to show an interest in it. If I were to give an analogy, it would be like eating bitter gourd. It is very much like an acquired taste. You might not like it at the start but the more you eat it, slowly you will be able to appreciate and savor the bitterness and find that within that bitterness, there is sweetness in it.

Influenced interest is somewhat the same as nurtured but with the exception that this influence is strongly based on what the parents want or feels that is beneficial to the kids. This can somehow end in child being forced to partake in the parents whims. There can also be external influences, such as friends or the media. However such interest are usually a short term interest. They will lose interest if the hobby or activity is not trending.

As for natural interest, need I say more? Haha. This is the best kind of interest and if any mommy or daddy sees this in a child, do take the opportunity to expose her more to it in adequate dosages cos even the most interested kid will be bored if you give her too much of the same things.

I hope this helps. And I didn't quote this from any books although it sounds like it. I merely analysed this.

Reply to How do u know what is your child's interest..? on Thu, 01 Sep 2011 06:33:27 GMT

FJFS — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 06:33:27 GMT

Yap very true…So i just have to let her be…

Reply to How do u know what is your child's interest..? on Fri, 19 Aug 2011 04:53:26 GMT

ayaka — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 04:53:26 GMT

Basically, she likes to have fun doing stuff. Cramp too much structured lessons if her life, you will soon kill the interest. Let the children develop what they like for the next few years, then you can send them for enrichment classes (or skills upgrading).

In short, let children be children. When the schools, they will be dying for a break.