Hobbies motivate learning.

Can you remember a time when you are performing a work of love. In love, there is no tiredness, no boredom and every desire to continue with the work at hand. When you are in love, you do not use anything as an excuse not to be with somebody or something you love. That is an undeniable fact.

In the same manner, when you love something, a subject or an activity, you wait for more opportunities to be with the subject or the activity. An example of such activities are hobbies.

How wonderful, then, if your child has a hobby, especially one chosen by himself, something he/she really loves doing. So let us allow the child to have a hobby. However, to give him or her a hobby fascinating enough to motivate learning, we ought to expose the child to as many types of activity as possible, so that the child has the opportunity to choose one that is aligned to his/her personality, interest and natural inclination. This, I feel, is of utmost importance. Just as we cannot force our love on someone no matter how true or sincere our feeling is, we cannot force our children to love something. To do so can only bring problems.

I know of parents who, with very good intentions, try to have their children cultivate an interest in something the parents feel would be beneficial to their children. They are good parents. There is no doubt about it. Their children, out of love for them, may even try their very best at the activity but they can never excel. Difficult it is to wish to learn more about something which lacks their love.

Furthermore, children can become frustrated when it takes so much effort on their part to just try to be interested. If, like some parents, you do not understand how your children can dislike something you believe is good for them, put yourself into the following situation. Have you ever tried to be interested in a girl or boy whom you have no feelings for? Try it and you will understand this part better. Parents must do no harm to their precious children.

As someone who has a myriad of interests, I find my interests the best motivator to study and learn. I am interested in fish. Wherever I go, I search for aquarium shops to see if there is any fish I have yet to see or know. It is my boast that there are very few attractive aquarium fish I do not know about. I have read so much about them. At the age of twenty-five years I bought the first published book on discus fish at a very high price. I read and reread the book before I saw my first live discus. In 1971, I heard about a shop in Selangor which sells such a fish. I was told I could book unseen discus fish at RM350 per pair. For me, as a teacher, that was equivalent to almost a month’s pay then. Even then I would have bought it if I could see how healthy they were. No, and I was to give a phone number and once they ring me I must immediately proceed to the shop to claim the fish, failing which, the shop could not be responsible for my dead fish! Eventually I did buy some to breed successfully. In those days, discus breeding was a lucrative hobby as very few people had the knowledge to do it successfully.As a result, young discus fish was exceedingly expensive and profitable to the breeder.

As a result of my interests, I studied about finches, canaries, floristry, video-camera filming, edible plants, enzymes, chlorophyll, nutrients, the human body, muscles, tendons, nerves, joints and the latest scientific and medical knowledge on health. Today, I discover there is still so much to live for with so much more to learn. And all this learning comes without effort; in fact it is a pleasure, a joy in a world of discovery of fantastic facts.

Through my pursuit of knowledge of things I am interested in, I was surprised to learn that protein in diary milk may cause osteoporosis, that a saturated fat such as coconut oil has so much health benefits and does not cause health problems, that CLA or conjugated linoleic acids, in grass-fed animals can prevent so many types of tumours, that exercise is the most important factor in ensuring health. I can say that hobbies and my interests motivate me to an even better, healthier life.

My children’s interests have also lead them to read on their own all those subjects or knowledge which interest them. My elder son has a number of similar interests and we often share our knowledge. This brings a greater bond between us. We are closer because of our interests.

As you can see, interests and hobbies bring so much benefit to us and our precious children. So let them be passionate in something. Encourage them, then watch them grow and develop on their own.