A Kid's Potential
Adults often refer to children’s potential. Everyone has “potential” but how much, and who knows in advance? What should parents focus on if not potential?
We don’t know what the future holds.
People often refer to a child’s potential as if it were something predictable. Potential is really an invisible unknown that cannot be measured. Assessing a child’s ability at any one point in time provides very few clues about her potential for success in the future.
Who is setting the bar
for potential anyway?
Have faith in children’s capabilities.
When adults admonish a child, and put it in the context of “not reaching potential” what they’re really conveying is that the child is not living up to their particular standards or expectations. Potential shouldn’t be an end-goal. It’s too elusive. It’s not clear-cut. A far more sensible and productive approach is to help a child develop a strong work ethic, based on her own aspirations and choices—encouraging her to set objectives that are fair and attainable, and then to strive to reach them.
Part of the job of being a good parent or teacher involves encouraging children to try new things, to ask questions and explore, and to become more adept at whatever it is that they can already do. Those foundational skills are extremely useful for productive self-discovery, including developing creativity!
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