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My dh and I believe it is our role as parents to be so attuned to our child's life that we have our eyes opened to what his strengths are and guide him in that direction. If he's good at writing and likes it, we'll encourage those type activities. (Even if he's not so good at it we should know if he has potential in a certain area and can help him improve.) If he's not so good in math and dislikes it, we'll help him in that area but not encourage him to become anything that requires strong math skills or even push him to get A's in that subject. We're big on focusing on strengths. Most books I've read lately regarding finding your passion or living with purpose suggest looking back into our childhood and discover what you liked to do then and there you will find your passion as an adult. I know for me that is true. As a kid I was good at spelling, reading and writing and I wrote short stories. I've never stopped loving writing and am getting back into it today. Often as people grow up, our true passions are lost as we become adults and we can end up doing something we realize we don't like. I don't want that to happen to our son.
I know for me personally, had my parents taken a role like that in my life my choices relating to education and career would have been much different. But then it can always go the other way too--parents can be too extreme in trying to make their child become something they want him/her to become. Our goal is to be attuned to what he likes, what he's good at and guide him. Ultimately, of course, it's up to our son.
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