We needed to strengthen our muscles by showing that we were interested in things that we were terribly disinterested in. As parents, we need to come up with different strategies, like what students couldn’t benefit from discovering that there’s alternative techniques and they can choose the ones that work best for them and apply them. To give you an example, a child was struggling with paying attention in classes that he really couldn’t care about. And I know a lot of kids feel that way.
So his learning specialist said, “Hey, I know you want to be an investigative reporter. When are you going to start investigating?” He said, “Well, when somebody hires me.” And she goes, “You mean you’re going to wait to learn how to do that until somebody hires you?” And he said, “Well, that’s when I’ll get going.” And she said, “Why don’t you use the time in class to start investigating what’s going to be on the test?” And that for him was the light bulb moment, where he was like, “Wait a minute. You mean I can get really good at what I want to do and practice when I’m in class?” All of a sudden, made the class interesting and important to him. And his grades went from barely staying in college to the rest of the time in college, getting all A’s and only one b.
So it was all about the psychological opportunity that we had before us that was related to our passion. And this is why I believe that passion is the fuel that’ll help you overcome any obstacle. And parents should be helping that child cultivate a level of passion that will put it in areas that they’re not interested in and allow them to succeed.
Listen to the full episode here:
“Fueling Passion: Navigating Learning Differences and Parenting Strategies” with Todd Hartley
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