Choosing a hobby for a child: tips for parents

Oddly enough, choosing a hobby for children is an even more difficult task than choosing a profession for an adult. Hence the throwing from one activity to another and other problems. 

Let's take a closer look at the topic of choosing a hobby for boys and girls — how parents can help them in this and not harm them. What are modern children interested in

The presence of a persistent (long-term) interest contributes to the development of the child's personality, the formation of positive qualities of character and healthy self-esteem, a favorable environment.

Hobbies help to stand out from other children — to show their uniqueness, abilities and talents. But the desire for self-expression in children 6-7 years old increases every year. 

Hobby brings positive emotions, helps to extinguish internal teenage storms, gives unlimited potential for the development of abilities. It can grow into a serious occupation and become a future profession, the whole life's work of an adult. Therefore, the choice of hobbies is a serious, multifaceted issue and requires a correct approach on the part of parents. 

When there is constancy in the interests ofAs a rule, by the age of 11-12, a child has constant hobbies.

According to surveys, from 44% to 55% of children are interested in board games, dancing and sports. That is, these are the most popular hobbies and a win-win option if you need to offer your child some alternative to boring classes.

Collecting is still popular (38%), about the same indicator for fine art in various variations — from computer graphics to art graffiti on fences and walls. Also, many children include music in their circle of interests — listening to compositions, passion for different styles, vocals, attending music school or learning to play an instrument independently, creating electronic compositions, etc. 

Unusual hobbies of children These include:

conventionally unusual — like yoga or archery;

• expensive, and therefore rare — equestrian sports, breeding of exotic animals;
• dangerous activities — parkour, rooting (moving on roofs), digging (exploring mines, underground tunnels). 

There is an impressive list of hobbies for teenagers that we didn't hear anything about a few years ago. They mostly arose due to the development of technology and the growing popularity of online communication, or they came to us from other countries/cultures due to the erasure of physical boundaries by the Internet. 

By the way, some of these activities can be a commercial success and become a source of income. 

This:blogging — maintaining personal accounts in "Instagram", "TikTok", "Youtube", "Like", etc.;

• cosplay — dressing up in your favorite characters.
• fikreiting — writing fan fiction.

There is also gaming and esports in general, LEGO construction and robotics, website creation, photo retouching, programming and much, much more.

Nothing is interesting — the main problem when choosing a hobbyThe peculiarity of the formation of interests in modern children is low interest at the start and inconstancy of tastes.

Parents lose their temper when a child once again declares that he no longer wants to attend a circle, it is necessary to find another one. And when asked what he would like to do, he apathetically shrugs his shoulders and does not give a specific answer. Why is this happening?

Clip thinking Modern children have stopped memorizing complex information.

They have Google and Wikipedia, which are constantly at hand. This, by the way, is a huge problem, according to psychologist A. Kurpatov. After all, the tendency to imaginative perception and primitivization of online content leads to a decrease in the brain's ability to analyze, logic, and conceptual thinking.

To captivate a child, you need to influence his perception system with the simplest images — those over which you do not need to think for a long time. Information should be provided quickly, brightly, and in a slide. The average time of concentration in children aged 10-13 years is 8 seconds. If the object is not interested, the child will not concentrate on it any longer.

Also read: Art therapy for children: the benefits of a psychological methodChanging hobbies is normal

Parents, be patient, because you will have to put up with the leapfrog of your children's interests.

A child who, from an early age, is very passionate about something, immersed in some favorite thing is a rarity, almost an endangered species. Now school—age children are in a state of constant search - which hobby to choose and what to focus their attention on? And this has its advantages: a superficial acquaintance with different areas leaves a good foundation for the future. You can always return to the type of activity discussed earlier and deepen your knowledge.

Well, the expansion of horizons. Even those crumbs of information that a child will receive in a couple of months of visiting, for example, an aircraft modeling studio, will help him at least to keep up a conversation about this lesson, tell something interesting, give advice. 

And more. Try to find out the true reason why the child stopped going to the circle, section. Perhaps the loss of interest is only a formal reason. But in fact, he did not have a relationship with a teacher or a children's team. Maybe the classes have a bad time and place. Get to the real reason and only then draw conclusions.

Learn how to raise a child so that he is proactive and develops - at Dmitry Karpachev's free online master class "What every parent should know". Other problems with choosing a hobby

Let's consider what else can complicate the task of choosing a hobby:

→ The child is not interested in anything. In contrast to the impermanence of tastes, it's all the fault of a limited outlook. Can you suddenly want a fried fern? Probably not. Because you haven't tried this yummy. But if at least once this Far Eastern delicacy was appreciated, then surely even its very name would cause an appetite. 

So it is with children's hobbies — the child does not want to choose anything from the trivial set that his parents offer him. Perhaps some unusual hobby would really captivate him. It remains only to broaden his horizons and tell him how and what he can do at this age. And it's good that there is an Internet — it makes this task much easier.

→ The hobby captures too much. So much so that there is not enough time to study — the main activity of a student. Here the key to solving the problem is in the art of persuasion, which parents will have to show. Education is very important, because it develops, first of all, the cognitive function of the brain. And without developed memory, thinking, intelligence, logic, it is impossible to succeed in any kind of activity. Therefore, first of all — school and additional training sessions, and then a hobby. 

→ The child wants to go to several circles at the same time. Such curiosity can even touch parents, but exactly until the time when school grades will slide down, and the student himself will fall from fatigue. What else threatens overload: nervous breakdowns, chronic stress, sleep disorders, decreased immunity, increased excitability of the psyche or apathy. 

To relieve the child, give up some classes or transfer them online. The age norm for children 7-11 years old is school + 1-2 clubs, and a teenager 12-13 years old may have more hobbies.

→ A hobby that does not correspond to gender. It is unlikely that you will meet a boy at an embroidery circle, but girls are happy to engage in traditionally male activities, such as boxing, hockey, etc. What should parents do — prohibit or allow them to attend such a section? 

Probably the answer is obvious. If you start to put pressure on authority or ridicule a child's hobby, then you can not count on close, trusting relationships. The only thing that can be done is to adjust the format of classes. For example, ask the coach to put his daughter in sparring only with girls, etc. 

→ The child is constantly "sitting" in the computer and is not interested in anything else. Turn this passion for games into a useful and developing activity. Introduce a young gamer to esports, game development and applications. Direct the thirst for immersion in the world of computer games in the right direction. Perhaps this will become not just a hobby for him, but also a promising, highly paid profession. By the way, as part of the 2024 Olympic Games, demonstration competitions in esports will be held.

The unclosed gestalt of parents' childhoodIt happens that a child does not know which hobby to choose, so he entrusts this mission to his parents.

And here they do not restrain themselves — they realize the opportunities lost in their childhood. 

Let's be honest: if you yourself have made a decision about what your child will learn, then the responsibility for his failures will also lie with you.

After all, it is impossible to achieve success in an unloved business, which means that disappointments are inevitable. In addition, you are creating a bad precedent — with such an approach, a son or daughter may lose faith in himself, lose the ability to make decisions and bear responsibility. 

It happens that the hobby was chosen by the child himself, but parents are already pushing him to achieve in this type of activity. The poor guy just wanted to do karate for the soul, but he found himself trapped in endless training and trips to competitions. To break out of this captivity means to disappoint parents, who will surely manipulate the fact that the child himself decided to attend this section. 

Find out what your child needs to grow up emotionally and psychologically healthy - at Dmitry Karpachev's transplant-free online master class "What every parent should know".Right now, click on the "Register" button and get a gift.

Imposition of interests 

Another undesirable scenario is when parents act in the concept described by the philosopher Montesquieu: "It is usually in our will to give our children our knowledge; and even more — to give them our passions."

That is, they actively impose a hobby on the child, which they themselves burned in childhood. At the expense of children, they are trying to fill in the gaps made many years ago. They want to infect them with their passion and create a kind of family tradition.

It is commendable to instill in children what we like and thus give a good example. But it is very tempting to slip into authoritarianism. The children of famous athletes are almost always engaged in the same sport, but very rarely achieve noticeable success in it. And this confirms the fact that it is very difficult to convey "passions" without pressure and imposition. 

If children categorically do not want to do what is interesting to you, do not insist and do not push. So you will not arouse interest, but protest and resentment. 

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There are many theories about how hobbies are formed in children. One of them is genetic. Allegedly, interest in a particular type of activity can be transmitted through generations. It is also believed that in 98% of cases, the choice of a hobby is due to temperament — the type of character. Examples from the environment also affect children's interests, and with age the importance of society in this regard increases.

What does this information give us? First of all, the understanding that a child's hobbies are a rather complex and multifaceted system, which should not be invaded with his authoritative opinion until he himself asks for your help or advice. May 4, 2021 2022-11-27 2021-05-04 Rate the article on a 5-point scale Did you like the article?