#  546  04/12/10  Could this be your child?

Let us look at another child whose parents assume that she has no passion.  The absence of a passion for a specifically identified hobby or sport often leads parents to believe that because they are unable to see the passion, it does not exist.  Sometimes, all that is needed is a little observation and research into the nature of the child.        We will call our hypothetical child Callie.
Callie is a fourth grader.  She is a good student who diligently does whatever the teacher asks.  Her teachers love her because her papers are readable, her long division problems are worked out in straight lines, her notebooks are organized and her desk is neat.

Last year, her teacher asked her to tutor another student who was struggling with her work.  Callie obediently did what the teacher asked, but did not enjoy the task.  In fact, she soon devised a way to look like she was still working on her own assignments so the teacher would not ask for her help.  It was not that she didn’t want to help.  She was just highly frustrated by the disorganized papers, problems and assignments of the other student. 

Callie is good at sports, but does not feel passionate about any particular sport.  She likes her piano lessons, but again, has no passion for practice.  Socially, she does better in small groups of close friends than she does in large groups of acquaintances.  She is a compassionate and willing listener to friends.

Looking at Callie’s strengths, one can see that she is organized, happy to follow the rules and good at social interactions on a personal level.  Careers such as accounting, personal organizer or systems analyst would use her gifts.  Her parents never associated her little notebook of team member statistics, phone numbers and positions with a possible future career using those organizational skills.  Her making the notebook on her own is an indication that she felt passionate about organization.

Carefully observing our children is a great practice for all parents.  Next week, we will look at the problem of a child who seems passionate about everything and wants to do it all.