Encourage Your Children to Pursue a Dream
October 21, 2009 by Mary Emma Allen
Filed under Parenting
Artist Georgia O’Keeffe, in a documentary I saw today, said she determined she wanted to be an artist when she was 8-years old.
Image: sxc.hu
She wasn’t taken seriously nor had much encouragement. But she stuck to her dream anyway.
What if she’d been encouraged to pursue her dream? She might not have been less renowned or accomplished. But perhaps she would have found her direction faster.
Encourage your children to pursue a dream. Don’t discourage them, even when it seems unreasonable or far fetched. Help them to look at all aspects and let them experience, when possible.
For instance, our daughter wanted to own a horse. When she was in 8th grade, she joined her cousins in caring for one over the winter, for the privilege of learning to ride. However, getting up on cold mornings before school to break ice in the water trough and feed the horse wasn’t so glamorous. Cleaning stalls when it was below zero lost its appeal, too. She finally decided this might not be the dream she wanted to pursue. She didn’t give up her dream of working with animals. For awhile, before her children were born, she worked for a veterinarian, caring for the animals at the hospital.
Help your children explore their dream. They may find they want to pursue it or not. In the process, they may change course and explore other avenues or evolve in the direction they started.
Were you encouraged to pursue your dreams?
