The New York Times recently re-released an article in its family section, Motherlode, discussing the perils of pushing our kids to find their life’s calling, their passion, earlier and earlier. With colleges defining students with a singular identified passion as standout applicants, more than ever parents are looking for sparks of interest in the exploration of childhood that can be furiously fanned into flaming passions.

The problem is that a true passion is organic –– and not the product of a search. As the Times notes:

When children can’t find their elusive passions, yet feel compelled to proclaim one, they grab onto an interest, label it a passion and buy the requisite instrument or equipment. This is not a harmless charade, because fake passions crowd out real ones. When you are busy playing on the lacrosse field six days a week because in seventh grade you liked going to practices with your friends and your coach once mentioned you might have some talent, you may never discover that computer graphic design is your calling. When you take every opportunity to play piano daily in a band, orchestra and private lessons, you could easily miss the once-in-a-lifetime joy of being a member of a field hockey team. Pseudo passions can eat up our days and lay waste to any chance of finding real ones.

We get it. We really do. We hope our children find passion in their lives, but what we hope for more is that our kids are passionately CURIOUS. Today and always.

[Check out the article here.]