How to support your gifted and talented child

Every year, universities churn out hundreds of thousands of graduates to fight for the few employment slots. The only thing that can help the country curb the unemployed youth bulge is supporting talented children from a young age, and encouraging innovation and entrepreneurship. For this, you must know how to support your gifted and talented child.

Most Kenyan parents believe education is very important, and it is. However, in their quest to ensure their talented children get the best education possible, they overlook their child’s inborn talents. By so doing, they doom them to the big pool of academic qualifications, where they can only be fished out courtesy of pure luck.

So how can you support your gifted and talented child?

Discover their talents

Try to find out what your child’s talent might be. Some kids are fortunate enough to discover their talents early on in life. Introduce them to many activities in sports, dance. music, coding, cooking, public speaking, modeling and find out what they enjoy and excel in. This can only effectively be done through observation and it sometimes take time.

Encourage them

Words have power and children tend to believe most things their parents say. So encourage your kids and speak positively about their gifts and talents. Tell them to practice often and not to give up when they face obstacles in their pursuit of the highest level of mastery in the skill or talent.

Enroll them in training institutions

Put them in institutions that will sharpen their talents, a place where they will be trained by experts until they improve their talents. Have them take part in masterclasses, workshops and seminars organized by people who have made it in their industries of interest.

READ ALSO: Afterschooling: What it means for your child

Register them in competitions

What better way to encourage your kid to venture out there than to enroll them in competitions, where they will get to showcase their talents to a wider audience and meet kids with similar talents. This will also definitely boost their confidence and expose them to opportunities.

Take them to tournaments and events

Take your kids to tournaments, events or competitions where people showcase their talents. Observing masters at play will enable them to know and see what they can become if they put in a lot of effort and don’t give up.
They can also get the chance to  talk to veterans in their fields of interest who will double up as their mentors.