Some people send their children to Drama School and they turn out to be Hollywood Superstars. Others shout at their kids on the football pitch until they make them cry, but they end up playing at proffesional level for Liverpool FC.

Could we assume that those parents nutured those children with the correct format.

Then theres those same children who parents did exactly the same as the above examples but without the success. These group of kids probably account for the vast majority. They may never even find their true potential like the majority of people dont.

Is it right to push your kids into a discipline you want them to be in? Can you rear Superstar kids? Should it always be the childs choice as to where their talents may lie.

it seemed to work for the Williams sisters. but equally that kind of pushing can be cruel, bad for a childand can go wrong too.

I dont think it is fair for parents to impose thier choices of careers in their childrens lives. However, I believe in encouraging children to take advantage of topportunities which can have influences over the child's life.

As a parent, by taking my son to karate, I made him aware of what was available. I respected his wishes when he told me that he didnt want to go to Karate and although I had paid for him to go, I accepted that it was his choice. I have introduced Drama and football to him and when he decides that he has had enough, I will accept that it wasnt for him.

I think that so long as the child enjoys what they are doing then the parents should encourage and support and not enforce it as a must. So long as the kids are happybanana.gif!

@all........ you have all made valid, relevant and accurate points, however can i put this you.

I believe when i was youngeri was good enough to be a proffessinal football player. I was spotted as a youth and then invited to train with a proffessinal club for one year. (Gillingham FC)

After the one year you're either invited to train again, offerred a proffessinal contract or released.

Unfortuanetly mine was the latter.

This has happened to millions of Proffessionals however they have persevered with the discipline and succeeded.

After being released i drifted for a while and continued playing at an ordinary park football level. Although i am not blaming my parents as they acted the same as the majority of parents would have, I believe had they insisted and forced me to continue my football seriously, i would have stood a chance of being signed eventually.

At that age(13-16) very few children i believe have a strong vision of where their futures lie soherein lies the question....Is this the difference between failure and success when nuturing a talent through to its true potential? i.e. that timelyintervention from the parents.

In my case i can tell you it wouldnt have been wrong as in hindsight i would have preffered to be a pro player.

Just because a child has a natural talent doesn't mean they'd want to pursue it.

When younger I wanted to be a doctor and studied at home hard to achieve it. My reports said I could easily do it and my parents actively encouraged me. However I decided I didn't want to while at college and no matter what my parents said I stubbornly refused to do medicine.

I'm not disappointed as that wasn't what I wanted.

My son's father is desparate for our son to follow in his footsteps and become a footballer, but he's just not interested. He is interested in basketball and cricket though, so if he wants to pursue it I shall let him.

Le Moor,

I believe your parents didn't want to subject you to more rejection by not forcing you to continue after you were released by Gillingham and I have to agree with them. No parent likes their child to feel they have failed.

Im Hotep,

Venus and Serena's parents had them specifically for the purpose of making them into millionaires and tennis stars. Their other daughters showed no interest in the game, so they decided to have two more. Their father, Richard, learned how to play tennis so he could coach the girls. And they certainly accomplished what their parents envisioned for them. So I guess it can be done.

But child stars, especially if they start out very young, seem to have a lot of problems. Remember the cast of Diff'rent Strokes? The dude who played the Beaver? The Home Alone boy?

I think it's ok to expose a child to variety of stuff.

Not everyone can afford to do that.

How many times have you heard from 'celebs' that they realised their talentsat very early ages?

And how would anyone know that they have a 'natural' talent for anything, woodworking, for example,if they are never introduced to wood!!??

blktypeUnfortunately Le Moor, (not being disrepectful to our peeps), we cannot choose our parents; we are at their mercy until we are grown.

*Incidentally this highlight imho, how important talking is for our children.

ChubbiChix wrote:

Quote:

The choice of career should be ultimately up to the child but its up tp the parents to push them in the right direction. If you see your kid has a natural talent, you should push them to perfect it because kids will say they want to do something today and then quit next week. You shouldn't be too hard like joe jackson but some encouragement never hurt anyone. Personally, I really don't want my children being superstar entertainers or basketball players. Its up tp them but I would rather see them as doctors, engineers, entreprenuers or something that requires education. I don't want my children in that corrupt industry of sports or music.

Quote:

Le Moor, I believe your parents didn't want to subject you to more rejection by not forcing you to continue after you were released by Gillingham and I have to agree with them. No parent likes their child to feel they have failed.

I have to agree with Mesmerized and Le Moor on this subject

Parental involvement is 1000000% important.

However in defence of the parents, alot of Africans only know about Degrees as a means of success. All this other stuff is frivolous to them

We have grown up differently and we know that there are plenty more ways to make paper


This is a timely subject cos I had a 45 minute conversation with one of my friends on thursday about this very subject

He was talking about his cousin who could have been a big footballer, but like in mesmerized example, the parents showed NO encouragement. Apparently he still feels a bit of resentmant

@ Le Moor

Knowing what I know now, if that was me I woud have had you in the park every other day( at least) after homework is done for you to practice whatever it was that Gillingham felt wasnt good enough