Value Passion Where You Find It

Value Passion Where You Find It! Tim Jordan, M.D.

“All kids are doing something pre-vocational.” Mel Levine, M.D., author Todd is a 17 year old senior who’d mom told me is “lazy, unmotivated, and not into anything.” His national test scores are off the charts, yet he manages to barely scrape by with C’s and D’s and the occasional A in classes he likes. When I pushed mom about what he was interested in, where he put his best energy, she finally, reluctantly admitted that he liked to read, especially biographies about politics and politicians. He had started a Poly-Sci club at his school, and told everyone he wanted to be a senator one day. Would you be worried about Todd’s long-term future and drive? I wouldn’t. He’s already shown the ability to go after a passion, initiate, create, and be extremely focused on his interests. Those are all good harbingers for his future. Charlie was a marginal, unmotivated student who was fixated on video games as a kid, and for that time period it was Atari. He spent hours on the weekends at arcades, battling the games and winning thousands of tokens and free games. After his dad bought him a Commodore 65 home computer, he and his computer geek buddies spent most of their waking free hours online. They learned how to hack the protections on Atari to copy discs, and made a lot of money in high school and college selling black market video games. During his second year of college, he wrote an ATM program for a professor who had been contracted by a local bank. The professor pocketed the cash, and Charlie walked away committed to never do programming again. He switched to civil engineering and today owns his own company. He attributes much of his motivation and passion to his gaming days. Here’s the deal: some of your children are never going to be wild about school. You can complain, nag, threaten, bribe, punish and yell, but the truth is that some kids are just not going to be fully engaged in school work. Some kids are not willing to play the “game of school”; they just aren’t wired that way. Ask any entrepreneur you know and I bet most of them share this profile. I often ask parents what they were most invested in as kids, and how those experiences prepared them, taught them, and let them to where they are today. Parents will talk about eagle scouts, lemonade stands, garage bands, lawn mowing businesses, being camp counselors (that was me!). Value passion where you find it even if it doesn’t match your vision for what your child’s path should be. Who knows if Todd will become a U.S. senator? His job is to pursue interests that seem like fun and that he has a passion for, because these experiences in total will guide him to his calling. Kids can learn essential life skills like critical thinking, persistence, focus, collaboration, self motivation and discipline outside of school through things such as sports, being in a band, skateboarding, working with kids at camps, playing with computers, and theater. It helps to appreciate and join them where they are, and with that in place you can better understand and have an influence in their lives. It starts with valuing passion where you find it!