One of the best things about having children is watching them discover the world around them in which they live. I love watching them develop their own interests and believe me they are all so different. I am a firm believer of not leading a child to interests and channeling them into something that you are interested in, no matter what age but especially when they are young. Yeah sure its easy to introduce and to get excited about things that you like personally. For me its much easier to get enthusiastic about reading and crafts etc than it is about soccer, gaming and dogs. But I do my best to be interested in these topics especially if they are giving me a blow by blow account of a particular on screen battle or the detailed account of the latest soccer game. I enjoy knowing that my kids are enjoying things and pursuing the things they love. Haven't quite got my head around the dog thing though! Of course a lot of children who are regularly exposed to interests of their parents do tend to develop the same interests along the way.
So at present I am really enjoying watching wee Jesse (20mths) discover his world and develop such an intense passion and interest for tractors, diggers, (any heavy machinery actually), drumming and animals.
The look of immense excitement on his face when he spies a tractor three paddocks over or he hears a cow mooing in the distance is truly priceless! So you can imagine his reaction when the calves in the paddock next door naughtily broke out of their pen and broke through the fence and into our section. All his Christmases had come at once!
Sneaky sneaky calves!
When I can't find Jesse, over the fence is the first place I look and today was no exception.
Can you see him?
How about now?
Jesse making conversation with a captive audience!
No fear just totally curiosity!
No 147 was extra abiding and came up close for a pat!
We have to make nearly daily trips to see the calves!
And of course Jesse loves to play in the sawdust too!
This week also saw excitement for my eldest son Casey (13) he finally was able to purchase (with the help from a blessing from a friend) his long time dream to upgrade from an ordinary bow and arrow like below.
To this serious looking 'now-we-are-talking' compound bow and all its paraphernalia!
He has been saving and patiently waiting for one of these and I love that he has finally has exactly what he wanted! Like any parent, I just want to see my kids happy and happy he is!!!
I am dying to have a go..but haven't yet! I am now sure I would be able to pull it back!
Most of you would know that we are a homeschooling family and one of the driving forces behind our home school is interest based learning. Over the week I have watch my youngest son nearly fall of his chair with excitement over finding video clips of 'real life' machines, shove a book on Cranes in my face 57 times a day and drum in rhythm with knitting needles and pots to music. I have witness my eldest son research, read and write about bows, the history of bows, the parts of a bow and read bow hunting articles with an enthusiasm I just love. This is learning people - self directed learning. And it blesses the socks off me!
I think we are going to have to purchase a drum kit in the near future!
He does this every single day!
Somewhere along the way though for a lot of children this passion, this intense drive to learn everything there is to know about something gets lost along the way. Why is this I wonder? Are they too busy? Is there too many options out there to learn about, to know at a deeper level? Do we parents not nurture or encourage the interest because it doesn't interest us? Do we not value this kind of learning as true learning?
Thoughts??
What are your children passionate about??
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