As a parent, I wanted to support and encourage my kids to pursue their interests. However, sometimes it was sometimes difficult to know where to start. The challenges seemed both easier in some ways, and much harder as they grew into teenagers. They were all involved in various creative arts, but over time their interest turned to passion, and as they became tween and teens , the idea of passion projects came into play.
Over time, I realized that encouraging creative passion projects was a way to encourage them to grow and develop their skills that gave them a sense of accomplishment and oftentimes pride in what they’d learned.
The Importance of Encouraging Creativity in Teenagers:
Encouraging creativity in teenagers has numerous benefits. Creative pursuits can help improve problem-solving skills, boost self-esteem, and promote mental health and wellbeing. Pursuing passion projects can also teach your teen important life skills such as time management, goal-setting, and resilience – skills that are useful in all areas of life.
But encouraging creativity wasn’t my concern. We were there – knee deep in music, singing and acting. But with all three of my boys with a primary focus in one area, it became important to understand what they enjoyed, and what they were deeply passionate about. And then to encourage them to do deep dives into those areas.
Understanding Your Teen’s Passions:
The first step in encouraging your teen to pursue passion projects is to understand their interests on a deeper level. Talk to your teen (when you are able to catch them in a chatty mood that is) about what aspects of their art they are most passionate about. The thing they do when they are bored, or stressed. Or the thing they research and watch YouTube videos to learn more about simply for fun and relaxation.
I found that last one to be particularly helpful in helping cipher out what my kids would like to achieve. Those videos were a great starting point to deeper conversations that helped me understand what they wanted to do more. But most importantly helped them identify what they would enjoy exploring as a passion project – and perhaps even long-term career.
Once I had a handle on what subject would guide them in a direction that would help them start to learn more about what they love, I was able to start making suggestions (gently, carefully and hopefully most of the time, subtly) to identify their strengths and weaknesses in that specific area. By doing this, they were able to explore potential passion projects that aligned with their deeper interest. To further understand your teen’s passions, you can read this helpful article on 6 Ways to Teach Teens How to Find Their True Passion. https://yourteenmag.com/family-life/communication/how-to-find-your-true-passion
Overcoming Obstacles and Challenges:
Even with the best intentions, encouraging your teen to pursue passion projects can be challenging. Fear of failure, perfectionism, lack of motivation, and burnout are common teens must manage. As a parent, it is important to support your teen and help them overcome these challenges. I talk extensively about these in my book Parent Talent: The Grown-Up’s Guide to Understanding and Supporting Creatively Driven Teens and Tweens https://parentingtalent.com/book/
Add to this, the increased pressure of living in a time when teens are often expected to be taking honors or AP classes – even in subjects they have no interest in pursuing as part of their future careers , and the pressure for college bound students to fit in all the things – great grades, multiple activities, and meaningful volunteer work. Finding time to do a deep dive into a passion project can be difficult.
Yet, learning to love learning – for the sake of learning happens best when we are passionate about a topic. I would encourage you to encourage your teen to consider finding a way to fit in a passion project – all the better if it checks off one the boxes for a potential college application – but this should not be the main motivator. The main motivator should be exploring something they are interested in.
Once they have identified an area where they would like to learn, or experiment or produce more, do all you can to create space for this to happen
Nurturing a Supportive Environment:
Creating a supportive environment for your teen is crucial in encouraging them to pursue their passion projects. This includes creating a safe and encouraging space for your teen to express their creativity, building a community of support for their passion projects, and celebrating their successes and failures.
This can be tricky depending on what they are hoping to pursue. For us, our kids have largely taken over our finished basement as their music studio, acting space and what can sometimes seem like ten other uses.
In addition there came a time where we recognized that each would benefit from their own computer and various software. These are not cheap of course, but when they indicated they would rather have one big Christmas present versus many small ones to pursue their passions, we relented. Ok, I relented – it was hard to give up the crazy madness of a Christmas morning filled with gift opening for hours. But the maturity and practicality of their request made the choice the obvious one.
For one son the passion project is a future career in music. Always a singer, he has dabbled in various areas within the music landscape, and seems to be leaning more and more into the singer-songwriter lane, though in his dream world he will be a multi-hyphenate with acting playing a large role in his world as well. He has used his computer to learn song production, take acting classes remotely and finish the papers required of him to graduate high-school a year early. This has been his goal for some time as he’d like to truly be able to take some time for deep dives into his passions, and hopes to go from passion projects to passion career.
I can see that by encouraging my sons to pursue passion projects along the way has had a positive impact on their overall wellbeing and personal growth. It has been a key part in setting them on a path to reach their full potential – in an emotionally fulfilling manner. It has also allowed them to get clarity on what they do and do not like. Some things they thought they’d love proved to feel tedious, and others they weren’t excited for at first, turned out to be exhilarating.
Final Thoughts
Encouraging your teen to pursue passion projects requires time, effort, and dedication. As a parent, it is important to be patient and supportive, and to celebrate your teen’s successes and failures along the way. By doing so, you can help your teen build their confidence and develop the skills they need to succeed in life. And with a little luck, direct them down a path of looking for a career that contains aspects that feed their soul.
