Raising Dreamers

My greatest dream as a parent is to raise my children to be dreamers. Really I think most parents would say the same thing. I approach this in three ways; active listening, an open mind, and encouragement.

This sounds simple but it’s harder than it really seems. We all have our preconceived notions of what we want our children to be; for instance I wanted Mycah to be a musician. I am saying discard that and just watch and listen. That doesn’t mean you don’t guide them. I have listened to my son go on about drawing houses and I have watched him build things out of all sorts of make shift materials (the tower of cereal boxes comes to mind). I listened when he asked me to watch the “building shows” (home remodel shows on HGTV). So one day I provided some encouragement by telling him what an architect does.  I don’t know if that will be his dream, but he can’t dream about what he doesn’t know. Now I’ll keep an open mind for whatever he tells me next.

I’ve taken similar steps with our older girls. When Raven told us she wanted to be a doctor, we started watching more Discovery Health Network and we talked about how much education she would need, to prepare her with what to expect. When Kira was nine she told me she wants to be on broadway. I offered to take her to a musical at our local community theatre. I ask her about show choir tryouts and encourage her to try out for plays. If she told me tomorrow she didn’t want to do that anymore, I’d ask why but I would respect her change of heart. Stormi is into drawing Japanese Anime. I’m not sure if she wants anything out of that other than a hobby, but I encouraged her to take Japanese (since her high school offers that language), I buy her art supplies and we encouraged her to take art classes at school.

I feel like it’s my job as their mom. My Mom encouraged me and I can do no less for my kids. How do you encourage your kids? What dreams are they discovering?

If you’re new to this blog, welcome! If you checked me out from my link on the Nesting Place, I really appreciate your visit! Please comment, I would love the feedback.