Early Childhood Education: Individual Talents

Not all children show outstanding talent at first glance, but everyone can do something particularly well. After all, even most adults are only averagely gifted in many areas. “The little ones should enjoy their experiences. Blame and pressure to perform slow the child down; they take away his sense of achievement. Praise and confidence in their abilities, on the other hand, spur them on,” explains the certified educator.

She points out that human development does not proceed in a straight line, but in phases. It is geared to the respective requirements of everyday life. Some celebrated child prodigies regress to mediocrity as adults, while the story of the physics genius Einstein, for example, is that he was a weak student at a young age. Therefore: Every child learns at different speeds and has periods in which he or she does not develop certain talents but prefers to turn to other things. Too much reprimand creates insecurity.

Strange expectations offend children

It always gets bad when children stick to one thing only for the sake of their parents. This applies to performance in school as well as sports, music lessons and all other activities. “Meeting other people’s expectations is not necessarily conducive to one’s own personality development. If parents impose their own expectations on their child, they make him understand that they do not recognize his abilities,” explains Kesselring.

The child experiences such behavior as hurtful and insulting; it has the feeling that it has done something wrong, that it is not “right” itself. All of this frightens him.

Parents should accept their children as they are

Parents should pay attention here to various signals, for example, tearfulness, despondency, excessive defiance, aggression, lying and withdrawal. But persistent physical complaints such as headaches and nausea also indicate excessive demands.

A discussion with the teachers or the educators of the day care center can then quickly clarify whether the wishes and demands on the child are perhaps too high. Even if the child’s performance at school is only average, parents can be proud of him or her.

On the one hand, there are talents that are not appreciated at school but are still significant in life. On the other hand, parents should accept and love their offspring as they are: after all, love is also an important part of encouragement.