Nanny to Mommy

Children are little balls of energy from sun up to sun down and as parents, we exhaust ourselves trying to keep up with them. Smaller children often leave a trail of destruction behind them and older children are interested in everything and anything with a healthy dose of being fearless with it. One of the best ways to help you to get your children burning off this energy is with a hobby that'll help them to realize that they love something new, while giving them a shot at being excellent at something they love. Think back to the years you had a hobby when you were a kid, and the hours you spent at classes or getting busy with the newfound love of your life. Now think about whether these were directed by adults or hobbies you came up with on your own?

Most children are involved in hobbies that are directed by their parents or at least gently guided by them! Whether you had a hobby that was quiet and contemplative, like model making, or you had a hobby like karate or running long distance, all of the fun, joy and chances to socialize with people outside of school are there to be had. Hobbies can benefit all children in a range of ways, but the best one is that hobbies can really help to build your child's self-esteem. Hobbies allow your children to express the accomplishments that they are involved in outside of a school environment, and they enable them to discover who they are. They are educational tools to help children to discover their interests and learn where they can develop them further, too. By being involved in new hobbies, whether this is a karate course or a place in a Gymnastics Academy for future Olympic dreaming, children will set goals and be able to make decisions for themselves. Hobbies enable them to be independent individuals with hopes and dreams that they can develop for themselves.

The biggest question that you must ask yourself is how you can find a hobby for your children, particularly those who have a keen interest in something specific. You - as a parent - will want to help your children to get to new heights and that involves helping them to find a hobby that they will love to be a part of. With this in mind, let's take a look at how you can help your children not only to find a hobby, but to sustain it and go the distance with it should they want to.

- Be a great example. What hobbies do you indulge in every once in a while? If you want your children to be interested in a hobby, you need to model the behavior that you want to see. Most children who have a hobby that they love also have parents who are happy to indulge in one. If you spend time every week attending a class or participating in a session of a hobby that you've always wanted, you will be able to impart the best example on your children, too.

- Prepare your space. If you know that your child has something that they are interested in, be prepared to give up some of your space to accommodate them. You know that you may need to let them use the garage for practice and you can give up the space for your child to really develop an interest. You can designate a space in the house for your children to be able to indulge in their new hobby, and regardless of where you set up the space your children should be able to come back over and over for their hobby.

- Guide and don't judge! So your son wants to be a ballerina, right? Great! He's going to learn discipline, skills, to dance on pointe, to be beautiful and lean in his movements. You - as a parent - need to teach your children inclusivity, and you can do this when you support their efforts in any hobby that they have. When you conform to the societal standard that tells you that your child cannot do something because of their gender, you're going to teach them they are limited - they're not. Be supportive and don't judge their hobby choices. They deserve to explore and feel wonder in the things that they do and you can help to facilitate that!

- Take down technology. More often than not, children choose not to go ahead and start a hobby because they are too distracted by technology. If you take it down to the basics, you're going to be able to encourage your children well away from technology and outside the house for exciting hobbies instead. Too much television isn't going to melt your kid's brains, but it will teach them that there is less to do in life than they think they can achieve. Take the time to teach your kids that there is a huge world to experience while they can!

- Go with their passions. One of the biggest ways to support your kids is to go with what they're passionate about and take them to whichever classes interest them the most. The best way to do this is to ask them what they love the most, and you will find that they may have interests in hobbies you don't even know about. You want your children to benefit from something fun and amazing in their lives and you can help them with that when you know what they want the most.

- Encourage discussion. When it comes to working out hobbies, you need to talk about them. Discover their interests and hold conversations about clubs they'd like to join. If you ask open-ended questions, you can encourage your kids to think about what they want from life - even if they're uncertain right now. You can encourage them to pursue interests that they truly want to be involved in, and you can even find that their passions can be converted into brand new hobbies. Once you have this discussion with your kids, get them to write it all down! Get your kids to write down their five favorite things to do and you should be able to find a hobby to match.

- Don't push. The worst thing that you can do when you are trying to get your children into a new hobby is to push them into a hobby they don't want. You can avoid this by allowing your kids to choose their own hobbies and passions and allowing them to do it all naturally. You want your kids to stick to their hobbies, and they can build on things that they naturally love to do this way!

- Being a pushy parent when it comes to hobbies is not okay - you need to foster enjoyment not make them feel as if they aren't able to love their hobby. It's so important that you listen, step back and let them discover without your influence. The more you push, the less they will want to get involved in hobbies of their own. They will be essentially "put off" by getting involved in anything fun. Take the time to find classes on the back of what they want and not what you want for them. There is a big difference and it will take time to learn that difference. It's exciting to want your children to achieve, but that doesn't mean that you should push too hard.