We live in an era when structured activities for children seem to take priority over anything else—sports, camps, day care, dance, and all sorts of other extracurricular activities. Parents might feel that if a child expresses a talent or interest in something, the parent is obligated to go out and find a teacher and enroll the child in lessons in order to nurture that interest or talent. But, I’d like to propose a radical idea—maybe children do not need lessons for everything…
I must admit that there have been times in my children’s growing-up years, when I think that lessons have actually killed a developing interest—my son’s interest in tennis is a good example. When he was 6 or 7, he gradually became interested in tennis. He liked just playing around and hitting balls against the garage door with a used racket. I signed him up for lessons and all the standing around, taking turns and waiting to do things with a racket and tennis balls was so boring that he decided he hated tennis and didn’t want to do it anymore. He finished out the “series” or season and that was it. Perhaps, had I held off and let him play around some more and experience tennis on his own terms, he might have stayed interested.
Sometimes, I think lessons and classes can stifle a child’s natural creativity. This might happen if a child is interested in art or drama or some other creative mode of expression. Having to stuff their creative urges into some curriculum too early can really be the end of that spark of interest.
I suppose, like most things, it comes down to balance. We want our children to have plenty of structured activities for their development, but they also need to be allowed the freedom and lack of structure to nurture their own interests and experience creative urges on their own terms—without a teacher, coach, or someone else’s agenda or curriculum.
See Also: Keeping Up With Changing Interests
Letting Your Kids Control Their Free Time