33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time
Cycle A
Saint
Mary Parish, Pylesville 4:00pm and 8:00am
Saint
Matthew Parish, Baltimore 11:00am
November
19, 2017
The Giftedness of Children
There
is a story about a young man named Brian.
Brian always
loved to tinker with mechanical devices.
As a 6-year old, he took apart a remote-control toy car.
At age
9, Brian helped his dad fix the lawn mower.
In high school, he spent hours rebuilding computer equipment.
And as
a young adult, Brian had already become a sound technician for a theatre
company. His parents steadily encouraged
him from a very young age.
But, Brian,
in his school years, was never labeled as “gifted.” The definition of the “gifted child” was
traditionally limited to the top 5 to 10% of children who achieved high test
scores and excelled in school.
No
question, these children are gifted, but, there may be hundreds of other ways
for children to be gifted. Today, educators
and psychologists tell us that nearly all children have special gifts.
Children
may display their giftedness through words, numbers, music, sports, technical
skill, social interaction, intuitive insight, creativity, and on it goes. Many professionals now say that all children have
gifts and they just vary from one child to another.
Our Gifts and the Gospel
I first
came across these insights in an article that is entitled Fifty Ways to Bring Out Your Child’s Best.
This
has led me to see today’s gospel parable from a slightly different
perspective. Instead of reflecting on
our use of our own gifts, I am thinking about how we can encourage others,
especially children, in using their gifts.
The
article that I cited gives 50 ways to bring out the best in a child, your own
child or a grandchild or a godchild. This morning I want to share just 5 of these
with you.
Five Ways to Bring Out the Gifts
First, look for what really interests children. Be alert to what captures their attention in
a positive way.
These interests may say a lot about where their gifts
are. By being alert to this, we are in
effect letting children discover their own giftedness.
In today’s gospel parable, the number of talents – 5, 2 or
1 – does not just mean having more or less talent than others. These numbers can also represent different kinds
of gifts and our task is to help children identify their own unique gifts.
Second, encourage children, but do not push or pressure them
too much. If we do that, they may become
too stressed and not even develop their gifts.
The master in today’s parable does not pressure. He simply gives his servants the gifts and the
opportunities to use them.
Third, allow children to make some mistakes. If they have to do everything perfectly, they
may never take the risks necessary to discover and develop their gifts.
It’s good to assist a child in realizing a mistake and
learning from it. But first, we need to allow
some appropriate freedom to make mistakes.
And the fourth rule is connected with this: don’t criticize
children in a way that puts them down. Instead,
give them encouragement and constructive criticism.
These two rules – 1) allowing children to make some mistakes
and 2) not putting them down – are borne out in the third servant in the gospel
parable. He feels afraid and intimidated
and the result is that he does not use and develop his gifts.
And the fifth rule: accept children as they are. Maybe your son is musically inclined and does
not have a lot of athletic ability.
Or maybe your daughter is more into computers than
dance. The important thing is to take
children as they are, because that will be the best environment for using the
gifts they have been given and for becoming the persons God intended them to be.
Conclusion
So, these rules
will help us to bring out the best in our children and help them to identify
and use their gifts.
