Developing talent

Most parents look for the spark of genius in their children's first crayon strokes. Most parents search for evidence of a prodigy the first time their toddlers hoist themselves onto the piano bench and bang on the keys. Yet, even without seeing early signs of giftedness, we're willing to funnel precious time and money into art classes and piano lessons, or ballet school and skating instruction--all in the hope of promoting talent in our children.

Nature vs. Nurture vs. Simply

Having Fun

Is talent innate? Given a nurturing environment, can it be learned? To answer these questions, education researchers examined the lives of 120 exceptionally talented individuals who had attained international recognition in one of six fields: concert piano and sculpture (art), worldclass tennis and Olympic swimming (athletics), and research mathematics and research neurology (academics). Their findings would prompt even the most ambitious parents to throw away their flash cards and let their toddlers just play on the floor.

The Development of Talent Research Project was conducted at the University of Chicago's Department of Education under the direction of Dr. Benjamin Bloom. Their hope was to inspire these talented young adults, along with their parents and some of their teachers, to look back and shed light on how they managed to achieve so much. The researchers found that the popular myths about great talents revealing themselves at a very young age are just that: myths.

In fact, the researchers discovered that few of the highly talented individuals showed signs of greatness in their early years. As a result, Dr. Lauren Sosniak, associate professor of education at Washington University and the project's research coordinator, says that parents shouldn't be concerned about the expression of talent at an early age. They should be concerned instead with helping their children explore and enjoy activities that they, as parents, care about.

That doesn't mean we have to be pushy. The parents of these achievers were not overbearing "stage" mothers and fathers. On the contrary, they were child-oriented folks who introduced their children to a particular "talent area" because it was an activity they themselves enjoyed and valued.

These parents shared a sport, a hobby, or a love of art and music not with any goal in mind, but simply because it was fun to do together. The mother of one tennis player recalls, "We were very close with the kids, they never went to camp or anything like that. We were always involved in their playing tennis and their going to tournaments and their doing whatever they wanted to do. It was just a way of life for us." [1] Indeed, many of the pianists were given their first lessons because , as one mother puts it, "I liked music." (2)

Dr. Kathryn Sloane, who headed up the home environment portion of the study, found repeatedly that "parents put a lot of emphasis on spending time with the child during his [or her] early years, doing things on the child's level." And while few of the parents had specific long-term goals for their young ones, they believed strongly in the value of hard work and drove home the idea that if something was worth doing, it was worth doing well.

Parents guided and encouraged their children by reading to them, playing games, and introducing new hobbies or activities. And whenever they noticed a spark of interest, they fed the flame--with a musical instrument, a tennis racquet, or the name of a good piano teacher. The reward for devoting time and energy to the children's interests was family cohesiveness. As one mother says, "[It] helped our family become a family because we were spending all this time together." (3)

This kind of parental involvement was evident in most of the families interviewed, especially those of musicians and athletes. Still, says Sloane, you'd be hard pressed to find a swimmer coming out of a pianist's family. Or vice versa. The reason? A swimmer's parents tended to spend their leisure hours running, swimming, or playing catch with the children, while a pianist's family was more likely to spend Sunday afternoon indoors reading or listening to music. Different households had "a different set of priorities, discussion topics, even books and magazines." (4) And the children inhaled what was in the house.

One of the most astonishing findings of this study is that it takes a long time to develop talent. For these children, it took between 12 and 25 years, only some of which were spent in intense work.

The Unfolding of Talent

The early years for most of these children were carefree and playful. Their parents would sometimes appear with a new record or a set of watercolors. And there was plenty of time to swim with friends at the lake, or to fingerpaint or tap out tunes on the piano. No pressure, no goals--only intrigue and challenge.

Between the ages of 10 and 13, the real work began, and the parents' role changed dramatically. Year after year, these families made increasingly greater commitments to supporting the child's efforts. "At this stage of 'precision learning,'" says Sosniak, parents had to start making sacrifices and start looking out for the child over themselves in some ways. They had to drive long distances to find better teachers and give of their own time, their own lives, to make sure the child got what he [or she] needed."

As one pianist recalls, "[My teacher] told my mother I had to have a decent piano to practice on. It had to be a grand piano. . . . The piano was twenty-five hundred dollars. My father was driving around in a beatup old car that he was hoping to trade in for a new car that year. Instead of buying the new car he bought me a grand piano." (5)

According to most of the families interviewed, these middle years were troublesome but exciting. When the children were willing to put in several hours a day at the piano or on the tennis court, the parents were willing to do everything possible to find the right teachers, the right coaches, and the best ways to realize the child's potential. One mathematician remembers that at report card time, his parents would "be ecstatic . . . would make me feel good. And if I got a bad grade they would treat it sort of lightly. There was never a negative feeling. The positive reinforcement was so built in that I'm sure it had a strong influence on my whole development." (6)

How Parents Support the Process

Positive reinforcement sometimes means treading a fine line between encouragement and pushing. The parents of these youngsters, for example, were often spurring them on, even when they wanted to drop an activity. One Olympic swimmer recalls how his father helped him through a losing streak: "My dad at that point did something that was very important. . . . He said, 'If you want to quit, that's fine. But I don't want you to quit simply because you're losing. If you're losing and you want to quit, you're going to be a loser all the rest of your life. So I'm going to continue to drive you to workouts and force you to swim and once you turn twelve and are at the top of your age group, you'll start to do well. If you want to quit then, that's fine."

Parental guidance and support, while critical to the development of talent, does not mean filling your child's head with visiions of Olympic gold. Indeed, Dr. James Alvino, director of the Future Problem Solving Program for gifted children in Ann Arbor, Michigan, cautions parents against too much early pushing and "hot housing"--running a young child from lesson to lesson--because these practices can backfire, cause stress, and rob youngsters of their childhood.

"Encouraging your child," he says, "means being attuned to the child, talking with the child at an early age, reading to the child, having lots of materials around just to play with. Good, interesting, stimulating junk is great as well. . . . Where you see a spark, then you need to be there to encourage, to provide materials and experiences that allow the child to further explore in that area, with the full recognition that he [or she] might drop it or move on to another area." (8)

The home environment is a vital piece in the very large puzzle of talent development. The early years need to be playful and unpressured so that children will have time to develop a real love for what they are pursuing. As Alvino says, "It's easy to do too much to [overschedule] a child at a young age. Because in the early years children should be really free to explore in an enriched environment." (9) Out of that enriched environment, out of those first childish plunks on the piano keys, can come not only sweet music, but a very special relationship between parent and child.

Notes

(1) Benjamin S. Bloom, ed., Developing Talent in Young People (New York: Ballantine Books, 1985), p. 217.

(2) Ibid., p. 27.

(3) Ibid., p. 471.

(4) Ibid., p. 467.

(5) Ibid., p. 54.

(6) Ibid., p. 295.

(7) Ibid., p. 208.

(8) Dr. James Alvino, in a telephone interview with the author.

(9) Ibid.

For More Information

Elkind, David. The Hurried Child. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, 1981.

Parents' Guide to Great Explorations in Math and Science (GEMS). A magazine for parents and teachers that presents activities to help further a child's interest in math and science. Also included are curriculum guides for teachers and activity guides for parents. For information, contact Lawrence Hall of Science, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720; 415-642-1016.

Stenmark, Jean, Virginia Thompson, and Ruth Cossey. Family Math. Berkeley, CA: Lawrence Hall of Science, 1986. A book of fun and challenging math games for parents to do with children of all ages, complete with information on setting up a family math class and an extensive list of resources for parents and teachers.

Pamela J. Wilsey, a former television and radio broadcast journalist, is now a freelance writer. She lives in Northern California with her husband Roy Meyer, a cardiologist, and their two sons: Jordan (10) and Brendan (7).

COPYRIGHT 1992 Mothering Magazine
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