In an age where the music, football and movie stars seem to reign, it is increasingly difficult to stimulate kids to achieve great feats especially in the traditional domains such as the visual arts, maths and sciences.
The upsurge in interest in the creative industries represent a departure from the good 'old days' when kids were encouraged to be geniuses in maths, sciences or languages. Having good grades was not frowned upon or regarded as unimportant by kids.Today, the picture is all too different. The internet, nollywood, social media etc has taken a virtual monopoly on the interests and attention of today's Nigerian child and children look up to popular music artists or nollywood stars. While creativity and talent should be encouraged, not every child may have the skills or ability to excel in the creative field. Children should also be made to realise that getting good grades and good qualifications should be the goal, not becoming a famous star with little talent.
Parents can encourage their children to take up more interest in academics by being proactive. Taking an interest in your child's lessons at school and homework should help rekindle their interest. Also talking to your child about people who have studied hard and made names for themselves in various sectors of society should prove useful.
You should prevent your child from being bored with school work by encouraging them to take part in extra curricular activities like poetry, drama, sports, athletics, boys scout etc. The skills that they will gain from participating in these activities should prove useful to them later in life.
Encourage your child to learn languages, by taking an interest in them. For example taking a family trip to a french speaking West African country like Republic of Benin or Togo would help your child put what he/she has learnt into practice.
Start a rewards scheme where you can 'reward' every little achievement your kid makes in some form that both you and your kid agree on.
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