There is a leap of faith to be made. It’s edgy. The leap is this. Kids don’t need much pushing. If from an early age children were given choice, autonomy and support in pursuing their interests, their natural level of initiative and motivation will be really healthy and present, perhaps more so than children who were pushed.
It comes down to moments, that as parents, we can be unaware of. All of the moments a child wanted to do something: grab this, move that, open this, close that, poke this, touch that, help with this and that, try to operate something, try to make something, making a mess…this is ALL initiative being shown. How we react to these moments I believe is critical. How we set up the environment to allow for curiosity and initiative to be expressed is important.
How we respond to this natural born initiative will determine how it is expressed later on, if at all.
How many automatic NO’s we deliver will shape who our kids become. How many times suppress this initiative and energy will directly relate to how that is expressed, or NOT expressed later in life.
Luckily, the opposite is also true. Encourage the natural born curiosity and watch your child take off like a rocket with no need for pushing, cajoling or motivating from you, none.