Benefits of Hobbies & How to develop them?

Benefits of hobbies:

- Hobbies give children confidence - Hobbies provide a sense of personal accomplishment, bolstering self-esteem. If children get positive feedback from their skills and hobbies, they’re less likely to turn to drugs and alcohol for comfort.

- Encourage reading - Hobbies are the gateway to learning, as well as transforming even lazy readers into avid ones. Most often, kids don’t enjoy reading because they’re not interested in the books put before them. However, once you discover their passions, reading just falls into place naturally, when they read about their hobbies.

- Educate - While reading about their hobbies, children develop a hunger for knowledge, maybe without even realizing it. For example, take rock collecting. After collecting some rocks and shells, your junior geologist will most likely want to know more about her (or his) collection, as she researches and studies.

- Teach goal-setting - Children learn to set goals and make their own decisions when they get absorbed in hobbies.

- Can lead to lifetime careers - Hobbies not only mature kids, but also can lead to lifetime career choices. When James G. of Palm Beach Gardens, Florida got his first racing bike in middle school, he went on to work in a bike shop and today, in his mid-twenties, he manages the shop.

Hobbies and collections are a great way to have fun, learn, and make friends. Most hobbies have clubs kids can join or kids can just do a hobby by themselves. Hobbies can bring some interest and spice to to our life beyond TV  and video games.


For Parents: How to develop hobbies in your children.

Developing hobby in a child
Children are unable to recognize their inner talents. Also, with the advancement of various technologies whether it is mobile technology or Internet technology, or television, children are engaged in these activities only. Often, parents have concern for their child. But do not know how to imbibe the hobby in their child. They are not able to discover about the interest of their child.

Here are some tips to develop a hobby in the child.

Explore interest of the child
Before encouraging the child to develop a hobby, it is necessary to know the interest area of the child. The task for parents becomes easy if the interest of the child is known. So, parents should take out some time to identify the interest of their child.

Set up example
Parents are the role model of a child. It is seen that a child follows the footsteps of their parents. So, if parents take out time for their hobby, the child will be inspired to develop the interest in particular hobby.

Proper Guidance
The role of parents do not end as soon as they identify the interest of the child. But, the real work starts now. The child needs a proper guidance to know and explore the hidden talent. Parents should help the child in knowing the benefits of the interest. For example, if your child has interest in music, then show up the demonstration that how soothing relief one gets from the music. Also, parents should show up their interest when the child is involved in his hobby. This will boost up the child's confidence and will be motivated to improve his talent.

Give proper space
Today, the area of living has become compact. People are finding hard to give space to the children where he/ she can do the interested work. So, parents should try to allocate a particular area to the child where he/ she can to whatever they want without any restrictions. For example, if your child has interest in painting, then provide him one side of the wall of a room and tell that he has full freedom to do whatever he desires in that portion of the room. This will encourage him to experiment with lots of stuff without any tension of getting scold.

Involvement in physical activities
If parents wish that the child shows the interest in the hobby, then they should involve the child in outdoor games and physical activities. Also, the parents should participate along with the child. This provides a moral support to the child. Also, parents should limit the time of television watching, playing video games.


For Children: How to develop a hobby in yourself.


1 Write down a list of the leisure activities you enjoy and determine which thing on the list would be your choice  if you could only pick one. You don't have to choose something you are already proficient at, as the journey is part of the fun; it only has to be something you believe you would enjoy enough to pursue.
 
2 Assess your schedule and decide when you can fit in time for your new hobby. It is not reasonable to wait until you have unlimited leisure time to pursue something that is enjoyable to you. A hobby is supposed to give you a break from the stresses of life.

3 Find a buddy. It is always satisfying to talk over something you enjoy with like-minded people. Ask around to your friends and neighbors to see what similar interests you have. If you can't find someone who has the same hobby you can search a good amount information on the same online too.

4 Check your local area listings for classes that can help you develop your hobby. For instance, craft stores often hold classes or seminars to help the aspiring knitter or cake decorator. Your local gym can help give you tips on how to train for a race, information from craft-teachers.  People also offer their personal services for sale on everything from guitar to cooking etc.

All the Best!!

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