Identifying and Strengthening Your Child’s Academic Strengths – Part 1

In order to encourage, motivate, and excite your child about academics, you should place a special focus on identifying and strengthening their academic strengths. In the past, parents, guardians, and educators have consistently focused on pinpointing a child’s weaknesses.

It was believed that, by discovering a child’s weaknesses, that we could aid in building up those areas. While that tactic has been successfully in many instances, researchers, educators, and tutors are now claiming that it is more productive to identify a child’s academic strengths and build upon those.

A Child’s Level of Uniqueness
Despite the good intentions behind discovering a child’s weaknesses and building upon those weaknesses, many adults that engaged in this strategy have ended up consistently placing an undue amount of time and energy in outlining what was wrong with the children that they worked with. By transitioning and focusing on a child’s strengths, we are looking favorably upon that which is unique and special about the child.

Adults that focus on a child’s individual strengths are actually focusing on the manners in which that child is unique; they are pinpointing what makes that child absolutely extraordinary. Children who are approached in this manner do not feel the need to defend or rationalize their actions. Instead, they feel proud, accomplished, and become more motivated to learn more!

Naturally, this type of position on life will, ultimately, help the child achieve all types of success throughout their educational career.

Weaknesses Versus Strengths
Weaknesses – where academics are concerned – are activities that frustrate a child and leave that child feeling inadequate and completely depleted. Strengths in academics are activities that make a child feel excited and fill them with energy and motivation.

All types of strengths (activities, relationships, and learning) are discoverable. Additionally, all strengths may be developed and utilized so that the child is able to achieve success in all that they pursue.

The balance between weaknesses and strengths is out of proportion. In order to achieve a balance that will help a child excel and get excited about their academics and other areas of their life, we should place a special emphasis on building up the child in the ways that they excel. As a result, they will start to excel in ALL areas of their life – in the activities in which they participate, the relationships in their lives, AND academically!

By placing a special emphasis on identifying and strengthening a kid’s strengths, we are not failing in the area of identifying their weaknesses; we are simply focusing on their unique skill set. In turn, we are motivating and encouraging the child. This is more productive than consistently focusing on the skill set in which they lack.

We encourage you to revisit our blog next week as we continue this series. In our next installment, you will be provided with information that will help you successfully identify the strengths that your child has; in turn, you will find that the child’s weaknesses start to improve!