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Have you ever supported your child’s newfound hobby, only to have them give it up after a short period of time?
This can be very frustrating for parents who are trying to be supportive and encouraging, like radio announcer Aishah Sinclair with her young daughter’s new interest.
Recently, Aishah shared that her daughter had asked for a ukulele as a birthday present few years ago. She seemed very eager to learn to play at the time, so the parents agreed.
Before enrolling her for ukulele lessons, they downloaded learning apps and watched online tutorials together to get her hyped up for the actual classes.
But eventually, the little girl lost interest and the ukulele was left hidden away, collecting dust.
Now, Aishah isn’t the only parent facing this. Fellow radio announcer Belinda Chee had a similar experience with her daughter as well.
Gymnastics was once something Belinda’s daughter wanted to do at a young age. She was so good that she landed herself in an inter-school competition for the first time.
However, on the day of the competition, she couldn’t stop crying and there was no way of calming her down. Her parents had no choice but to withdraw her from the competition, even after spending hours and hours training.
Since then, she couldn’t bring herself to attend gymnastics classes anymore.
Does this scenario sound familiar to you?
Nowadays, many parents find that their children give up on something too easily, even when they were very excited to try something new at first. When things get a bit difficult, they start to lose interest and just decide to quit.
With technology at their fingertips, young people are getting used to instant gratification and they don’t have the patience to see things through.
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Besides that, parents also tend to be in a better place financially to let their children explore different things, be it for classes or activities. But this could backfire at times.
They spend money, time and effort to support their children’s interests, only to see it all come to waste when they quit and move on to something new, which may also be something short-lived.
This all comes down to one thing: grit, or the lack of it among today’s generation.
Grit is defined as passion and perseverance of long term and meaningful goals. With grit, comes traits that are commonly associated with the ‘never give up’ attitude, such as courage, determination, resilience, tenacity, passion, persistence, endurance, and excellence.
American academic and psychologist Angela Duckworth found that grit is also an important indicator of success or achieving anything worthwhile in life. In fact, it has been said that grit is a better predictor of success than talent.
According to the 2020 Grit Advantage Report, one of the key findings show that balancing academics with extracurricular activities is critical for success.
On that note, 71% of educators found it important for children to learn from failure to be successful, while 82% believe that “determination to pursue one’s goal and never give up” is the most important early predictor of success.
Meanwhile, 93% believe grit is central to character building and fulfilling one’s passion. That’s a significant number!
Not only that, Malaysian employers also identified a lack of grit among today’s young professionals.
It’s common to see young working adults taking the easy way out as 79% of employers notice fragmented career paths and frequent job changes in résumés.
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About 72% of employers say children today need to be taught patience and a sense of purpose, while 70% agree young professionals must be open to making mistakes and learning from them if they were to achieve enduring success on their career path.
When it comes to hiring talents, seven out of 10 employers choose well-rounded individuals over those with just good grades.
So what do you think about the concept of grit? Are you also frustrated with your child’s short-lived interests? How do you think you can help them sustain their passion and hobbies on their path to success in the future?
Share your stories with us!