As much as I want to encourage, and not force, my son to not waste his talents -art and sports doesn't stand a chance with psp, nintendo, iOS, android or PC games. It's a never-ending quest for me, as a mom, to find the right amount of patience and understanding to encourage and not force him to improve his talents.
Although art, music and sports classes doesn't come cheap, letting him join these classes is still the best option. It saves me from nagging him to research on how to paint or draw something new, practice his swim strokes or play basketball in the backyard when he's doing nothing productive when he's in the house (count the above mentioned gadgets as non-productive producing things).
I try not to tell him often that his art works are good. Because he feels that "you're just saying that because you're my mom". That only worked when he's still in preschool. Now that he's older it's very important to properly tell him what he needs to improve on.
Yes, it's hard to let kids realize that they have lots of talents and God gave it for them to improve and use properly. But that's the job that God gave us and we parents should accept it whole heartedly.
