Tennis champ sisters, debater brothers, champion swimmers, brother-sister singer duo, sisters who are consultant doctors. What are the elements of success in a family?
Almost invariably, successful siblings have a uniform push and grooming from home. It's the ethos of both or one parent, with the support of the other, that grooms the young fertile minds helping them blossom as potential acers.
Home is a budding ground for talent. Home provides a safe, nurturing and supportive environment for children that facilitates them to grow into expressive, dependable and self-sustaining individuals. The oft-quoted Harvard University study conducted in 1938 concluded that loving and healthy family relationships were the basis of successful lives.
Success does not come overnight. It is a long, arduous process of instilling self-belief, inspiring, motivating, keeping on track while encouraging concerted effort in children - not in one, but all. First and foremost, this process demands a natural flair and passion for a certain skill or talent in the parent. Secondly, it demands that the parent make a team with the other parent and children to practice the skill or talent as a group or as a family activity. Through this teamwork, the seed of passion is sown. Then the parents need to water it, provide warmth, guidance and plenty of support. The parents' consistency, discipline and patience is required throughout this process as they help the budding talent improve, polish and grow. It is not far then that, the the nascent bud receives nourishment at home along with opportunity outside and bears fruit. It is pertinent to mention that part of this process is also that parents hunt for opportunities and create possibilities outside the home to help in skill development and talent growth. Without this additional effort by parents, the process might be aborted. On the contrary, with these efforts, the raw talent and latent skill find direction and purpose. As a result, parents see the fruits of making their home an institution for their children while the children enjoy and utilize the skills and knowledge they receive with the help of the most important institution in their lives.
In the long run, the cultivated knowledge and skill bind with other sources and children discover self-fulfillment and self-actualization. In today's world where every individual is increasingly independent and driven by personal ambition, choices and dreams, it is crucial to bind with a person, organization or cause with full commitment - the commitment that fulfills one's desire for personal growth and service at the same time. The community gains when such confident, talented, skillful and educated young adults contribute productively to society. But it all begins at home - the indispensable institution.
