YOUR CHILD TOO, CAN BE A STAR.

Dear Parents.

Have you ever seen a publication for scholarship or quiz competition and tells yourself that my son/daughter is cannot fit into this as this is only for ‘A’ students? This is the limiting mentality I want to warn you against.

Imagine a parent that saw a list of cut-off marks for university courses and has concluded that his/her child can only fit into the low cut-off courses because they feel their child will never be able to score high marks even before writing the exam. This is the kind of limiting mentality I am talking about.

I want to call your attention very quickly to something you are doing so wrong and is affecting your child’s success.

For some reason, most parents have designed some limitations for their child and believe that there is a threshold beyond which their child cannot exist.

Sometimes, this type of thinking is the fault of the school that has label your child as ‘slow learner’, ‘performing below average’, ‘academically weak’, etc.

Sometimes, this kind of thinking comes from parents themselves. This may be as a result of their background, financial and social status, etc.

Sometimes this thinking comes from the society that appears to have defined some roles for some class of people. Classism can be very damaging as it comes from a source other than us. Oh, your son can not do XYZ because he did not attend XYZ kind of school.

Wherever the limiting mindset is coming from, do know that you are doing a lot of disservice to your child. Every child has equal potential to succeed at birth, societal factors limit those potentials and more often than not it is coming from parents.

The solution to this is that you should expose your child to every bit of opportunity you find on your way without pre-judging them. Let them apply to participate in competitions such as spelling Bee, Cowbell math, etc. Even international ones too. Just make sure you prepare them for it and wait to see magic.

The next time you see scholarship adverts by oil companies, banks etc, rush to allow your child to apply for it. Again, prepare them for it and wait to see magic.

Allow your children to make choices and do not shut them down because of your own limiting beliefs.