{"id":15348,"date":"2019-02-13T01:08:51","date_gmt":"2019-02-13T01:08:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=15348"},"modified":"2019-02-14T12:05:06","modified_gmt":"2019-02-14T12:05:06","slug":"5-ways-to-develop-childrens-talents","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/5-ways-to-develop-childrens-talents\/","title":{"rendered":"5 ways to develop children’s talents"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kenneth A. Kiewra<\/a>, University of Nebraska-Lincoln<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Some people think talent is born. The often-told story<\/a> of Mozart playing piano at 3 and composing at 5 reinforces such beliefs.<\/p>\n

But here\u2019s the rest of that story: Mozart\u2019s father was a successful musician, composer and instructor<\/a>. He was devoted to teaching Mozart and helping him practice hard and achieve perfection.<\/p>\n

Despite all this, Mozart did not produce his first masterwork<\/a> until his early 20s \u2013 after about 15 years of arduous practice and top-notch instruction.<\/p>\n

Talent, I argue, is not born, it\u2019s made \u2013 and parents can make a big difference.<\/p>\n

Conditions for success<\/h2>\n

Although some might believe that talent is rare, psychologist Benjamin Bloom said otherwise<\/a> after he investigated top performers in six talent domains: \u201cWhat any person in the world can learn, almost all persons can learn if provided with the appropriate conditions of learning.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those appropriate conditions include five things: an early start, expert instruction, deliberate practice, a center of excellence, and singleness of purpose.<\/p>\n

Children can\u2019t ignite and stoke these talent factors on their own. Instead, as I argue in my 2019 book, \u201cNurturing Children\u2019s Talents: A Guide for Parents<\/a>,\u201d children need a talent manager, most often a parent, to nurture talent growth. I make this case as an educational psychologist who specializes in learning and talent development.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s take a closer look at these talent factors and parents\u2019 influence.<\/p>\n

1. Early start<\/h2>\n

The seeds of talent are usually planted early and in the home. One study revealed that 22 of 24 talented performers \u2013 from chess players to figure skaters \u2013 were introduced to their talent domains by parents, usually between ages 2 and 5<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Many phenoms get an early start, research shows.<\/span>
\nPurino from www.shutterstock.com<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Some of those parents were elite performers or coaches themselves. One was national championship volleyball coach John Cook<\/a>, who raised All-American volleyball star Lauren Cook<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think my daughter had an advantage because of my job,\u201d coach Cook said<\/a>. \u201cShe grew up around volleyball. When she was a little kid, we set up a mini court in the basement and would play volleyball on our knees.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some parents were not linked to the child\u2019s eventual talent area but provided a nurturing early environment that sparked a talent interest. Such was the case for Adora Svitak, an accomplished child writer and presenter.<\/p>\n

Adora published two books by age 11 and made hundreds of international presentations, including a TED Talk viewed by millions<\/a>. Adora\u2019s parents, John and Joyce, were not writers or presenters, but they set the stage for Adora\u2019s accomplishments. As her mother describes, they read \u201cinteresting and fascinating\u201d books to her for more than an hour each night. \u201cReading really helped shape Adora\u2019s love for learning and reading,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

In addition, they encouraged Adora\u2019s early writing, offered guidance, helped her publish her books and arranged speaking engagements. Joyce eventually quit her job to manage Adora\u2019s career<\/a>. She said<\/a>, \u201cIt is a full-time job, and it can be hard. But, I don\u2019t just manage somebody; I manage my daughter.\u201d<\/p>\n

2. Expert instruction<\/h2>\n

Parents go to great lengths to provide or arrange expert instruction. Chess grandmaster Kayden Troff<\/a> learned how to play chess at age 3 while observing his father, Dan, and older siblings play.<\/p>\n

With few chess resources near their Utah home, Dan assumed chess-coaching duties. To do so, Dan studied chess 10 to 15 hours a week during lunch breaks and after hours.<\/p>\n

He read books, watched videos, and studied grandmaster games that allowed him to create a book with specialized lessons to instruct Kayden during nightly training sessions. Eventually, when Dan could no longer keep pace with Kayden\u2019s growth, he arranged for Kayden to take lessons from grandmasters via the internet.<\/p>\n

To pay for lessons costing US$300 a month, Dan, a banker, and his wife worked extra jobs as custodians and spent 400 hours organizing an annual chess camp.<\/p>\n

3. Deliberate practice<\/h2>\n

Practice among the talented is never casual, it\u2019s deliberate: goal-directed and beyond one\u2019s comfort zone.<\/p>\n

State high school swim champion Caroline Thiel<\/a> described her taxing practice routine this way:<\/p>\n

\u201cSome days in practice you\u2019re just so exhausted. You\u2019re sore and your entire body aches, and it\u2019s hard to find motivation. Your brain shuts down but your body keeps going through the muscle aches, heavy breathing and throwing up. People don\u2019t realize how hard swimmers practice; they think we just jump in the pool and swim a few laps.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Becoming a champion swimmer takes arduous practice.<\/span>
\nKekyalyaynen from www.shutterstock.com<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

4. Center of excellence<\/h2>\n

When I asked Jayde Atkins, a national high school rodeo champion, why she is so talented, she said, \u201cLook at all I have, I should be good.\u201d Jayde was raised on a horse ranch in central Nebraska<\/a> and began riding at age 2.<\/p>\n

Her parents, Sonya and J.B., are riders and professional horse trainers who taught her the ropes and practiced with her for hours each day. The Atkins had well-bred horses and a big trailer to transport them to nearby towns for rodeo competitions. The family ranch was a self-made center of rodeo excellence.<\/p>\n

Most talented performers do not a have a center of excellence outside their back door. In those cases, they may travel to get to one. Consider three tennis players from Lincoln, Nebraska, my hometown. With their parents\u2019 blessing and support, Jon and Joel Reckewey<\/a> left home as teenagers and moved three hours away to Kansas where they trained at the prestigious Mike Wolf Tennis Academy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Wimbledon and U.S. Open doubles champion Jack Sock<\/a> traveled weekly to that same tennis academy as a boy before his entire family eventually relocated to Kansas. With parents\u2019 support, budding stars often gravitate to centers of excellence, where top coaches and rising stars flock.<\/p>\n

5. Singleness of purpose<\/h2>\n

Talented people display a singleness of purpose.<\/p>\n

One chess parent I interviewed told me, \u201cThe extraordinary time we put toward this one activity takes him out of a lot of fun and games.\u201d Another parent said, \u201cHe\u2019s not interested in school; he\u2019s interested in chess. He just lives and breathes chess.\u201d That same parent said, \u201cWe once took chess away (because of low school performance) and he was miserable. It was like yanking out the soul.\u201d<\/p>\n

When I asked chess parents why their children dedicate themselves to chess the way they do, they were unanimous about how much joy and satisfaction their children got from pursuing chess.<\/p>\n

Parents support this singleness of purpose. However, on occasion, they may find themselves supporting more than one passion. For instance, McKenzie Steiner is an all-state softball player and rising country music star. Her father, Scott, was McKenzie\u2019s longtime softball coach, logging thousands of hours a year on the diamond and practicing pitching in the backyard, and also serving as her country band assembler, promoter and manager.<\/p>\n

Talent journey<\/h2>\n

Although stories of pushy parents abound, the parents I spoke with recognize that children must drive the talent train with passion and hard work and that parents can only help keep the train on track. They helped because they saw a need that only they could meet. They would no sooner ignore a talent need than a medical need. And, of course, they help because they love their children and want them to be fulfilled.\"The<\/p>\n

Kenneth A. Kiewra<\/a>, Professor of Educational Psychology, University of Nebraska-Lincoln<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

This article is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kenneth A. Kiewra, University of Nebraska-Lincoln Some people think talent is born. The often-told story of Mozart playing piano at 3 and composing at 5 reinforces such beliefs. But here\u2019s the rest of that story: Mozart\u2019s father was a successful musician, composer and instructor. He was devoted to teaching Mozart and helping him practice hard […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":15345,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[292],"tags":[1114,5887,5886,1033,5885,1224,5884,5084],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15348"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15348"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15348\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15350,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15348\/revisions\/15350"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15345"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15348"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15348"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15348"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}