Collaborative post
What’s the best lesson you can teach your child? Well of course, there are many, and they all support one another. It’s just as important to teach your child to be responsible, to be confident, to be self-assured, and to dismiss negative or harmful people by substituting them with others that nourish their daily lives.
But of course, all of this is quite “obligation-based”. You likely know, as a parent, that preparing them for the wider world is a long journey, and one you’ll focus on with care. However, there are other lessons just as important, even if they might not seem to have “practical value.” Teaching them the joy of going for a morning walk, for example, or how to make a nice herbal tea, or how to be patient when needed.
Of course, life is here to be enjoyed, too. And for that reason, teaching your child to find joy and nourish love for hobbies and activities can be a fantastic gift. So, what might that look like? In this post, we’ll recommend six nourishing joys and hobbies to teach your little ones:
Board Games
Board games can be simple entertainment, and it’s a nice way to separate your little ones from the screens in the household. They can also be great fun to play while travelling, such as when camping with your entire family.
Of course, games like chess can also be fantastic to play and are well worth teaching your little ones. They give them the ability to learn a basic rule set with a large amount of skill variation, and playing them step by step can be great fun and help them think through their actions more carefully.
To get a little more serious – even more than the mental stimulation, board games can teach patience and the concept of fair play. Your child learns that sometimes they’ll win, and sometimes they won’t – and that’s okay. There’s a quiet satisfaction in playing together, following the rules and taking turns. It’s a form of structured play that brings the whole family together, creating memories that go beyond the board itself. It’s something video games can offer too, but never quite as directly. Teaching a love for board games encourages your child to slow down and enjoy the process, not just the end goal, and share in the fun.
The Joy Of Nature & Wildlife
It’s arguable that encouraging a love for nature and wildlife is one of the greatest gifts you can give your child. We’re all part of nature, after all. There’s a sense of calm and peace that comes from simply being outside and observing the world in its natural state. A child learning to seek peace in that and associating the wonder of the outdoors with their childhood will likely carry that throughout their entire lifetime. It doesn’t really matter if you prefer to take a walk through a local park, watch birds from your window, or plant a small garden together, as it all counts. You never have to choose just one.
The great virtue of nature is that it encourages us to appreciate the small things – a butterfly landing on a flower, the rustling of leaves in the wind, or the ripples across a pond – these things are almost meditative in nature. Of course, in reality, these things are the most important of all and in no way “small” and insignificant, but in our hyperstimulating culture, it’s easy to forget that. Of course, encouraging this love can also incentivize your little one to get out there instead of feeling glued to the game console, and that’s hardly a poor outcome.
The Local Theatre
Local theatre productions, both small community efforts and children’s performances, can be a good gateway for a child to learn about the stage. Bringing your child to the theatre isn’t just for entertaining them for a couple of hours – they get to see live, often dazzling performances with incredible set, stage and prop design. It’s a good reminder that stories aren’t just on a screen or streaming app, but out there in the world.
Of course, theatre can also teach us about heritage. Child-friendly variations of certain Shakespeare plays tend to go on all the time, and that in itself can showcase the traditions of language and storytelling that have been recycled for centuries. This being said you don’t have to go for high art. Taking them to see a fun show, even a pantomime, or perhaps a stage show like The Lion King at Disneyland can be more than enough. You’ll no doubt watch their eyes light up. Just remember that the theatre can be a little intense for first-timers, so make sure to pick a show suitable for them.
Aquariums
Is there anything more dizzying and impressive than the ocean? Even as adults it can leave us in awe. But of course, the effect is magnified in childhood. No doubt your little one knows about the ocean, you may live near it or have been to the beachfront on holiday, but there’s something about seeing underwater creatures that can make you truly live in awe.
Not only is it incredible to see so many different types of fish, but seal trick shows, fun events and educational classes can all be run by these institutions. It’s also a great way to go and support wildlife and its preservation. Of course, aquariums are perhaps the perfect example of how education is fun – almost no one with a proper outlook is going to be failed to be impressed and mystified by the wondrous life that comes from the sea, to the point where you can’t help but learn a thing or two. Who knows, this might inspire a love for nature once more in your child. You can even throw birthday parties at aquariums if they’re set up for it. Not a bad idea to put on the backburner, as it were.
The Beauty Of Simple Recipes & Baking
It’s heartwarming to know that parents and their children have been cooking together and passing down recipes for potentially thousands of years. That in itself is a rich tradition you can embark on at any time, no matter what cuisine you have to follow. Every grandparent has a recipe their own grandparent taught them, and perhaps you can continue that flow right now.
Of course, baking is a great place to start, too. It’s fun to play with flour and dough or to bake cookies and decorate them afterwards. There’s no need to go overly complex as if you were a contestant on Bake Off, but you can certainly show a few tricks you’ve learned. A lifelong love for cooking and baking is of course going to help them, not only does it give your child confidence in the kitchen but the responsibility of sourcing ingredients, learning to put a shopping basket together, and sharing their final creation with those they love.
In a world of delivery apps and quick conveniences, this practical skill can serve your child for life and prevent them from falling into bad habits. But more than that, a love for food is often a love for life itself, and also learning about different cultures and their heritage at the same time.
Reading & Comic Books
Any parent that has helped their child feel inspired by reading has taken a massive victory. Not all do. It’s okay if your child isn’t going through four books a month of course, but having one close and being interested in them is a wonderful outcome. You might schedule bi-monthly trips to the library to pick up a new title for them to read, if you have time, read to them at night, and even look to alternative forms of reading like comic books (this can help inspire children that might be non-readers).
Sitting down and absorbing a story, being exposed to good writing and character arcs and enflaming their imagination is a great idea. Sure, you don’t necessarily have to introduce them to classical literature just yet, nor pile it on like homework outside of the books assigned at their school. Moreover, if your children have other interests, let’s say video games, there are also tie-in video game stories with accomplished novelists that might help them spend less time on the screen. For example, the Halo series is celebrated, and your child might nurture a keen interest in that. Anything to help them get started.
With this advice, we hope you can enjoy a range of wonderful and nourishing joys and hobbies to teach your little one.
Of course, we’ve couched some of this advice within the framework of “what is good for your little one as they grow into young adults,” but that doesn’t mean teaching them a joy for the sake of it is a bad thing. Understanding that can help you have fun a a parent too, as opposed to constantly thinking of the long-term utility of every practice you teach.
