I finally saw the movie Hidden Figures. I remember writing a post that mentioned Katherine Johnson last year (“We Belong Among The Stars”) and I knew it was a movie that I wanted to watch with my daughters. Hidden Figures, is not just about black women who worked for NASA, but it is about learning how to cultivate your natural abilities to live the life you want to live.
Thus, the push for STEM and STEAM careers in our society, help us see the value of creating a film like Hidden Figures, which highlights the lives of women in careers we once only associated with men. Of course, STEM fields in the Technology Age are important, but even outside of getting more engineers into our American workforce, we need to encourage our children to love learning and exploring on their own.
As a parent, I suspect that I watched Hidden Figures with other lenses besides spectating for entertainment. I watched because I have to twins who love to build and create. I’ve often shared my daughter’s fascination for building on my blog, but their builds show up all throughout our home in other ways too. They have a knack for trying to create and reinvent things. So, when I saw the young Katherine Johnson doing math on the chalkboard, my desire to cultivate my daughters’ love for building was renewed. If we want our children to succeed we have to encourage them to share their passions with us. Then our duty is to increase the positive desires that drives them.
[tweetthis]If we want our children to succeed we have to encourage them to share their passions with us.~ @CleverlyChangin[/tweetthis]
[tweetthis]If we want our children to succeed we have to encourage them to share their passions with us.~ @CleverlyChangin[/tweetthis]
Our children will have numerous passions. They may even have a new fixation every year, but we have to help them fine tune their interests and give them opportunities to explore their likes. During the summer is a wonderful time to help kids cultivate their gifts.
5 Ways We Can Strengthen Our Children’s Gifts are:
- Enroll him or her in a related summer camp that will immerse them in new experiences.
- Share plenty of books with them they are relevant to their interests
- Buy them toys that teach so their imaginations can already begin help them see themselves in a professional light.
- Take your children to films that will encourage them to aim for success and reach their goals. (The film above is a great example of how AT&T helped thousands of young people recognize their own gifts within, by seeing a film of women who were talented and had a never ending drive.)
- Find them a mentor to help show them the way to make their dreams a reality.
Reader question: How do you encourage others to cultivate their natural talents?
Moreover, as we begin to see our children’s talents we have to let them choose their own likes and not our own. We can try to push our children in one direction, but instead of doing a lot of pushing, we foster a better relationship with them when we observe and encourage instead. A part of loving them is allowing them to be who they are created to be.