Disclosure: collaborative post

As your baby grows into a toddler, and as your toddler then grows into a child, you’ll hope to see some of your personality in them. This is to say, you hope that some of the things you care about or enjoy, they too would follow in your footsteps. It’s important to start this very early on. Children are smart and they want to ask questions. So if you want them to love something you do, you have to explain it to them and show them as well. This could be something as simple as following a sports team, it could be enjoying a hobby you love, or it might be a life skill that you want them to have far into the future. Here is how you can begin.

Falling in love with a sport

Should your child follow the sport you love? Many parents would like their children to follow in their footsteps and try doing football, basketball, or some other mainstream sport you were taught. However, it’s important to allow your child to discover what they are good at naturally. So yes, this does mean you as their parent will need to take them to lots of different sports while they select one. This can be costly but if you do things right it doesn’t have to be.

• Look for child-parent days for sports being held by clubs and teams. This may be in a gym that is teaching calisthenics, it might be a professional sports team trying to find new talent, or it may be the local authority having a charity event where different sports are being played.

• Ask them what they want to try. Look on YouTube at various sports, ask them what they like about them, if they would like to try them, etc. Visually representing what they would need to do via training videos and learning the rules of a sport, are good ways to introduce the sport to them. 

• Ask their school if they have any sports that they could try at an event day or perhaps, opportunities that are occurring at different times around the year. Some schools only do swimming sports during the summer, while other schools will do ice skating during the winter.

Loving a skill or activity you like

Sometimes hobbies that you love have been passed down to you and you want your children to love them too. This could be something like camping, fishing, rock climbing, etc. The question is, how do you get your child to get involved? The best way is to show them yourself. If you love camping, take your child camping when they are of age.

To get them to love it as much as you do, think back to when you first learned. What were the things you wished you were told? If you like to go camping, you should show them how to pitch a tent, hammer in the nails, hang a hammock, learn how to make fire, etc. 

If you want them to love your hobby long-term, then you need to take them camping, fishing, etc, every other week or month. It has to become part of their lifestyle. They should be allowed to choose their equipment, clothes and get involved in being part of the process.

A passionate hobby

We all have some kind of passionate hobby. If you want your child to get involved, you have to allow them to do the hobby themselves. This does mean you need to show them what you are doing, why you are doing it, why it is important to you. For example, if you love model trains then you should allow them to build a track and run a train on it. If you love period trains that are from a different era such as the live steam series, then get them one of their own. This way, you can run your and his or her train along the track at the same time. Have a race, time your trains doing a route, picking up cargo or freight, passengers, etc. Buy a book on the trains, the era, the designs, and more. Get them fully involved in your passionate hobby.

If they show signs of having a passionate hobby, then encourage them by buying them the things they need to go one step further. Maybe, one day your child brings in worms, beetles or other insects. If they say they are interested in them, perhaps buy them an insect book, a pet insect and or take them to children’s insect exploration events that are being held locally.

<iframe width=”560″ height=”315″ src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/GWZlx6XheD4″ title=”YouTube video player” frameborder=”0″ allow=”accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture” allowfullscreen></iframe>

Introducing great thinkers

If you have a love for knowledge, and you hold some of the greatest thinkers in great esteem, then you should try to pass this onto your children. If you love philosophy, then introduce your children to the basic concepts of justice, virtue, fairness, goodness, honesty, etc. There are lots of children’s books on Plato that introduce these concepts to children in simple terms. 

If you love economics and you want your children to know more about this subject, then you should introduce them to the paying of bills. You’ll focus on how much you earn, how much you spend and how much you pay. It’s firsthand knowledge that you can give them, as they should get involved in the adding up of expenses and expenditures. Introduce your child to Milton and simplify some of his ideas.

If you love science then introduce your children to science books and show them concepts such as time, space, the universe, planets, diseases, chemicals, gases etc. this can be done through children’s books on the subject, but you should also introduce them to scientists such as Darwin, Edison, or Mendel. 

It’s important to notice when your children have naturally sparked an interest in a subject and chase upon it by buying them the things they need to further it. However, you should also take a proactive approach and show them the hobbies you love and let them partake in them regularly.