We as parents have a unique opportunity and responsibility to help our child develop those talents and abilities that God has placed within them.  We look at them as newborns and see this world of possibility.

I remember when my daughter was born I laughed and said that she would grow up to become a geriatric Dr. so that she could take care of me in my old age.

When my son was born, I laughed and said that he would grow up to become a sports star so that he could afford to take care of me.

Those are silly examples, yet we as parents have high aspirations for our children.  The thing to remember is that we want God’s aspirations, not ours to lead them.

As parents we need to ask God to give us a glimpse of the potential  that he has placed within them and to pray consistently that  those gifts and abilities would be to be used for His purpose and that their eyes would be focused on God and not the world.

 As they get older God and begin to walk in their gifts, we will want to ask God to open the right doors and close the wrong doors for them to walk through.

1 Corinthians 7:7 tells us ,”…But each one of you has your own gift from God; one has this gift, and the other has that.”. 

• When your children are young watch them as they play, making mental notes concerning  their likes and dislikes.  A child who loves legos may be interested in engineering/construction and those types of things where a child who is constantly drawing is more artistic and may need to be steered in those areas.  
• Discuss with each child their  interests and listen to what they have to say. Teach them to express what they like and why.  My son would say that he was interested in the way music sounds, so I did a heavy physics curriculum with him and he fought back.  It took me a while to understand that he wanted to play music and was interested in writing music, not necessarily in the science behind it.  Yet today as a musician, that knowledge has come in handy as he records his music.
• Support and encourage  them in their interests.  Don’t be afraid to let them try new things, even if those things seem strange to you.  Remember your child is unique and God gave them a perspective to life that is different than yours.
• Designate a time and place within your homeschooling day to encourage them in their interests.  My daughter expressed an interest in writing at an early age, so I carved out extra time for writing within her curriculum.  Today she is an English teacher.
• Keep it simple especially when they first start out.  If your child expressed an interest in gymnastics, sign them up for a gymnastics class.  Don’t hire a private coach.  If your child has a serious talent, you can invest heavily at that time.
• Cultivate critical thinking.  I can’t stress this enough.  No matter what gift your child has, he needs to think critically  in our modern world.

What about your child?  What are his gifts, talents and abilities and how are you helping him foster them?

This blog post is a follow-up to a parenting resource that I wrote entitled 7 Scripture Prayers To Pray Over Your Homeschool.  To receive a copy, scroll down and click on the updates link.