We talked last time about helping your teen find his (or her) passion. Once he knows what he really loves, he will naturally want to engage his passion.
The problem is that teens don't always know about the opportunities that await them. Sometimes a teen will be very motivated to search out ways that he can learn or use his passion. Other times, he needs a parent to help him search out ways that he can develop a talent or use a talent or skill.
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| My daughter's photography |
How can we help?
- Search out a mentor.
- Research or point out ways a skill can be used. (Like giving lessons at a music store- he may not be aware that they do this.)
- Provide or help carve out the time he needs. Maybe it can even count for high school credit.
- Help him find an avenue to pursue his passion within the community. (Like a place to display his artwork or a place to volunteer.)
Sometimes you just don't know what you don't know. This is especially true for teenagers– they just haven't been around the block as many times as we have. In many ways, they need us to reveal the practical aspects of engaging in a passion, or search it out if we don't know. They need us to help search out the details of where and how they can begin to jump in right now.
Our teens have something truly valuable to offer. We need to enable them to engage their passion and change the world.
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How have you helped your teen engage in their passion? Feel free to include links to blog posts about them or their work.
{I apologize for the delay of this post. Illness prevented me from finishing it in time for it to go up yesterday. Since it is part of the 31 Days series, I am post-dating it to the date it was intended to publish. If you're reading this from a feed, I apologize for the multiple posts today.}
Come back for more on parenting teens tomorrow. Better yet, get it in your inbox so you won't miss a day! I'd also like to invite you to join the conversation at The Daisyhead on Facebook. I'd love to meet you!
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