TALENTED KIDS OFTEN NEED TO BE PROMTED ( By Michael Grose)

 A little girl playing piano during a classical musical concert organised by Fr. Vittorio at Don Bosco Utume Karen Nairobi

Talented kids often need prompting to ensure they become well-rounded individuals.

One of the challenges for parents with a talented or bright child is to encourage them to develop a range of interests outside the academic sphere, to not only round them out but to prevent them from being isolated from their peers. Kids with exceptional talent or ability, often referred to as gifted children, are often talented in specific areas such as mathematics, language, sport or music. Some gifted kids are multi-talented and excel in a variety of areas.

Gifted children tend to be passionate and single-minded about their interests, focusing their energy on the topics that absorb them, often to the exclusion of other activities. Just as children need a balanced diet for good health, they need a balance between work and play to make sure they develop good social networks and maintain emotional health. Parents need to guide these children towards leisure options they may not normally consider.

Make time for play

One way to encourage a talented child to be more well-rounded is to get them to lead with their strengths. In other words, it may be that a computer whiz meets up with other like-minded souls, but extend the meetings to activities away from the computer.

Balance for gifted children means that they don't become isolated as a result of their talent. Parents may need to be part social director, gently insisting that children set aside time for play and other social activities.

Encourage risks

Gifted or talented children are often low risk-takers in areas or endeavours that are not their passion or strengths. Used to automatically excelling, many of them fear doing things poorly, so talented children are often reluctant to attempt unknown or different tasks.

It can be quite a shock for these kids to find that something doesn't come easily to them. Often, exceptional kids give up when they are not automatically good at something. Help them understand that some things take time to master and they may need to persist to excel.

Don't push it

Some gifted children slow down their learning when they start school as they focus their time and energy on making friends. This is important if kids are to fit in, however, parents who are proud of their child's achievements can become quite anxious at this apparent shift in interest away from learning.

It's times like this that parents need to step back and follow their child's lead and recognise that different stages of development require children quite naturally to focus on different interests and events.

Making friends

Some gifted kids can have difficulty making friends among their own age group as their language levels or interests don't match. They can have little in common with their peers. Parents can take an active role in encouraging peer group interactions by organising joint play sessions with young children and providing extracurricular activities for school-aged children.

Often children become less involved in solitary activities when they begin to interact with their peers, who exert a strong influence on activity preferences.

Part of the family

Family life can be a great leveller for gifted children. A sibling can bring a talented child back to earth, letting them know that they may be a star at school or in sport but their talent pulls no rank at home. Jobs need to be done, games should be played and big heads can be easily deflated.

Help talented kids stay grounded. Don't give them special privileges or excuse them from chores. Expect them to join in with regular family life.

Balancing act

Talented kids can become self-absorbed in their interests and pursuits to the detriment of developing broader interests and friendships. With a little coaching and prompting, parents can help children achieve balance in their lives so they don't become isolated and rely on a narrow set of interests for their identity and self-esteem.