Help! My Child Has No Interests!
Published on July 23, 2014 by LeeBinz
“My child is not interested in ANYTHING!!!” I hear parents complain that their child has no interests fairly often, especially from those with younger children. Hang in there! It’s like children learning to ride a bicycle; they use training wheels for so long, that you think they’ll never learn to ride on their own. Then suddenly – they’re off! If you are in the “training wheels” stage, what can you do when your child doesn’t seem interested in anything?
I received this question from a fellow homeschooler…
Hi Lee, What if your 13 year old daughter isn’t interested in anything….or so she says. Loves to read but says she’s not interested in reading anything “educational”. Seems uninterested in most things the last year or two. Help?
You might ask, “Why is my child not intersted in anything?”, but it’s extremely common for kids that age to have no particular interests. I have talked to quite a few people who have complained about this problem and then they call me the next year to explain that their child suddenly “caught fire!” There are some things you can do that will help.
First, expose your child to a wide variety of different experiences and subjects. Colleges like to see core subjects covered to make sure kids have caught an area of interest, so make sure you have all the usual subjects covered.
Second, look for an area of interest where you least expect it. I often notice kids have an interest, but neither the student or the parent recognizes it as a “passion.” Instead, they may label it as “annoying” or “just for fun.” We actually made an amusing video depicting how annoying it was to have chess and piano as my children’s interests. Here is that video showing a moment when passions became too much for one annoyed mom! Here is an article to help you find areas of interest using your own “annoy-0-meter”. Use Your Annoy-O-Meter Skillfully.
Third, think about passion as something you encourage in your children over four years of high school, not as something they START high school with. My husband has written a series of articles called Raising Your Own Superheroes, all about developing interests in children:
Raising Your Own Superheroes: Step One – Observing Passion
Raising Your Own Superheroes: Step Two – Catching Fire
Raising Your Own Superheroes: Step Three – Providing Opportunity
Finally, when you are considering interests, remember to look outside of academics. Some kids don’t “love” books, but they love “doing” something, and hat can be a passion, too! So if your daughter loves babysitting, or baseball, or beach combing…one of those things may end up being a passion. Look beyond school work and academics, and at the whole person.
What is your child’s interest? Does it seem like your child has no interests right now? Share in the comments!
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Please note: This post was originally published in September 2009 and has been revamped and updated for accuracy and comprehensiveness.