Each child is uniquely gifted by God. One of our roles as parents is to help the child discover those gifts and seek to draw them out to a place where the child is empowered to use those gifts to bless others and add light to the world. How can this be done? Here are some points.
Notice when your child “lights up.”
What activities do they do that they can’t wait to talk you about later? What makes their eyes light up?
One of my sons was looking back on a picture of himself walking in as a player to his very first football game. “Look at my face, Mom. That is pure joy right there.” Yes, it was pure joy, and starting into his fifth year of football, it is still pure joy.
Another son once told me one evening, “Tomorrow morning we are going to be down in the field filming a scene for my shortfilm.” You are?! Well, ok! This happened in a chain of events that did indeed lead up to him producing his first shortfilm.
Listen to what others say.
Other people can be extremely perceptive about your child. Where is your child naturally gifted, where does he shine? Sometimes others will easily pick up on it and they will likely comment on it. I heard someone say about a young man during a drama presentation, “He’s such a gifted communicator,” and I agreed—he delivered his lines with unusual charisma and finesse.
Allow/enable them to try new things.
One of our daughters wanted to make cakes. She wanted to spend her own money to get this cake-making kit {affiliate link}. After she brought it up several times, we ordered the kit. So far she has produced three cakes, each with two layers, with a homemade buttercream frosting. I worked with her step by step on the first cake. Since then, she has needed very little help from me.
The night before making one of her cakes, she said, “I’m going to get up early tomorrow because I’m going to be so excited about making my cake!”
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