How to identify your child's abilities

There are several ways to find out what your child is good at:

• Observation: notice the areas, hobbies and activities your child shows a lasting interest in.
• Asking questions: ask your child about themselves, their interests and experiences to learn what they enjoy and what they can do.
• Feedback: ask teachers, friends and other people close to your child what they see as the child's abilities and interests.
• Trying things out: give your child concrete tasks to test their abilities in practice. This can be an internship programme, a project or even a club activity.
• Instrumental assessment: use professional tools and methods to get a full picture of your child's abilities, interests and potential.

Which approach is best?

Ideally, use several approaches at once. A professional assessment is built precisely on comparing information from several sources.

1. At what age can we identify a child's inclinations and interests?

From an early age you can see a child's interests in the games they play, the school subjects they like and their hobbies. But these interests are often unstable and change easily. From around age 14, interests begin to settle, and that is when career guidance counselling becomes useful. It does not always mean choosing a specific profession. Sometimes the goal is to design an individual development plan or to set a general direction.

2. What should you pay attention to: games, hobbies and so on?

To understand your child's interests and abilities, watch the activities they spend time on by their own choice. What does your child:

• take an interest in,
• like to explore,
• manage to focus on for a long time,
• feel proud of,
• choose as role models or idols?

All of this gives valuable clues about your child's real interests.

For example, in one recent consultation a parent asked for professional help to understand their teenager's potential. Using several assessment tools, including a diagnostic interview with the teenager, we identified their potential areas of interest and gave individual development recommendations.

3. What is the difference between interest and ability?

Interests and abilities do not always match. Sometimes it is not a child's strengths but their weaknesses that catch their interest. This can come from a need to work on what they are not yet good at.

Put simply, interest points to a potential area of growth, while ability points to the child's strengths and skills. Both can be a solid foundation for a good career choice.

4. What if nothing interests your child?

Here it is important to separate two things.

First:

• Does your child have real opportunities to discover themselves? Can they do what they are interested in?
• Are their choices taken into account?

Second, sometimes our expectations of children are so high that they stop taking any initiative at all. Very often what holds them back is the fear of failure. As a result, it looks as if the child is not interested in anything. Yet:

Interest is a child's built-in development programme.

And "bugs in the programme" can sometimes come from the environment. When the environment is too restrictive or overprotective, a child's motivation to assert themselves, learn and discover new things can weaken. In such cases it helps to support the child's initiative or to lower expectations.

5. How to choose a club and not quit after a month?

There is no universal advice here. Sometimes children need to try different activities to understand what suits them.

At the same time, when choosing a club it is important to take your child's attitude into account. Let the child choose the activity, and let the parent help make that choice more conscious. You can ask your child questions like these:

• Why did you choose this club?
• What do you want to achieve? What will it give you?
• How long do you think it will take you to achieve it?
• If you run into difficulties, what will you do to overcome them?

Questions like these help a child choose more consciously and stay motivated longer.

6. When should you take a test or see a coach?

Families most often turn to a coach or take career tests just before university admission. Professional support can help parents and teenagers make better-informed decisions and avoid losing time and money.

In another case a parent asked for help with their child's choice of major. The teenager was torn between several professions and believed they had both interest and ability for each. They were considering becoming a doctor but sometimes doubted the decision.

The assessment showed that the teenager's main area of interest was not medicine but leadership and management. As a result, we identified development directions matching their interests and potential and gave recommendations on preparing for the major.

Instagram: @yegana_careercoach