DEAR PARENTS, how far are you doing to help ur child discover his talent?

I thought about this just yesterday! I want my children to be well-rounded adults, with varied interests. Able to hold their own in any situation.
Lots of extra curricular activities and exposure to different interests, is important. Then a parent can determine the area that holds the child's interest. It is important to spend time with your children, and to know them well as individuals, however young they may be. My older son is just three and he seems to be always glued to the telly when a football match is on, preferring that to his beloved Barney! There is a football academy here and I will enroll him when he is old enough to join, if he wants to.

Introducing them to music at an early age is also good. Piano, violin or drums are good instruments to start off a child with and there are private teachers who offer lessons for a fee. However, a parent should never force any interest on a child. Some parents tend to project their own interests or unaccomplished aspirations unto their children. Gentle encouragement should be the watch word, not brow-beating. I never took advantage of my piano lessons when I was little, preferring to bury my head in a book. My teacher gave up on me. Now I wish my parents had prodded me firmly but gently in that direction.
But sometimes a child will find their interest on their own. My youngest brother was never offered piano or organ lessons. He learned to play from his friend. When he was 14 he asked for a synthesizer and my Aunt bought him a giant one. When it was delivered to our house, imagine our shock when he sat down and proceeded to play it perfectly.

Parents should also learn not to talk down to their children. Parents in this part of the world tend to do that. Children are a lot more intelligent than adults give them credit for, and talking to them like they are half-wits does not encourage intelligent discourse. Leave the baby talk in the nursery. Talk to him like a person, listen to what he has to say. Talk to him about different topics and ask his opinion. It builds incredible self-confidence in a child, and helps his conversation skills. It also provides valuable insight to his interests, which a parent could encourage.
Reading is great too. I love books and will encourage this love for reading in my children. It opens up amazing vistas to them and they can discover new interests this way. Currently, my little boys are more interested in ripping up their books and beating each other over the head with them!! LOL!

WOW Arielle!!! That was a beautiful one there. Are you just more than a mom? Honestly speaking, I have various talents and although im not married with children, i want to share my experience. When i was a child, i loooooooved to read stories - Ladybirds, Enid Blytons and the rest of them - thus, this made me develop the interest of writting my very own stories from my brain. i would rip middle pages of exercise books out and fold into two, staple, write, draw and colour. Then i loved to act in front of this very tall mirror in my dad's room and imagine story lines of my own - i enjoyed dressing up in costumes. I made paper dolls consisting of father, mother, children, extended family members and friends with paper furnitures, colorful painted paper cloths and cars made of card board papers for them. Their home was one of my dad's long empty drawers. I also loooooved to initiate new arrangements and decorate the house because i loved to see changes. I was very, very good at creating stuffs with materials i could find around me - All these started when i was 5 or 6 years old. All of a sudden, i lost it all, the interest for all that. The thing was that i grew up in the wrong environment where all my talents and interest were'nt encouraged and asides from the fact that my parents were very much aware of all i possessed in me, encouraging me with just words of the mouth, they never went all the way in bringing out the best in me.
When i finished my secondary education, i discovered i had a great love for music. Singing, writting songs, composing them and visualizing myself as a super star singer cum actor and writter and others now became all i ever did and i was able to write two beautiful novels that are yet to be published.
I look back at the years when i was young and very active, less involved in things that took my time and all that - yet although im still very much indebted to my parent for all they have done for me and are still doing - i kind of blame them that i am not what i ought to be with aaaaaaall that talent embedded in me - singing, acting, writting, interior decorating, creative arts, drawing, etc. I compare myself with achievers who have made it and are making it  from childhood knowing very well that if i was in the extremely enlightened family, in the right environment where i could easily go for training and with greater like minds, i would be far more than where i am right now and even exposed to more skills.
Parents have a great deal of work to do to avoid a circumstance like mine and many others out there for their children. A circumstance of wishful thinking and blame.

AMAZING!!! both of you are just wonderful. Jamahs most touching statement was blaming the parent for not taking some delibrate action, now this blame most of us hold against our parent, we are right but the question still remains, what delibrate action are we taking now to avoid our kids from blaiming us as well
we need to go beyond this stage, i believe most parent are totally ignorant of their responsibility when it comes to this. i think we would do our selves and our kids much good if we help to bring the consciousness of fellow parents to this important but highly neglected aspect of our childrens upbringing. just help sp[ray the gospel.

Yeah, you are right about the fact that parents are ignorant. That's the truth. Even if the parent expose their kids to various experiences and the kids take intrest in the one that is least appealing to their parents, they get no or less encouragement. Parent should just let their kids be and should not dictate for them what they should be. We are all aware of this saying.

Talent does not hide. If he or she has any, there will be little need to go "tapping" for a talent search. Sooner or later it will show.

Right now born of Nigerian parents, all I see in them is "419"!

Any talent I have to go far to search for is not much of a talent.