I have dedicated a fair amount of blog space to your children’s hobbies. I prioritize hobbies because I am continually amazed at how many children, or adults, for that matter, can cite no personal hobbies when asked. The common reply I hear is that they enjoy “hanging out with friends,” “binging on Netflix,” or “playing video games.” How did this lack of interest, this lack of engagement, befall our youth? Hobbies and interests make human beings multi-faceted and appealing. We seem to be cultivating a generation of robots, without distinguishing interests, all focused on the singular goal of attaining “success,” however that may be defined.
I also emphasize the importance of hobbies, though, because I believe that they add so much color to my own life. I long to take a break from my daily work and chores, so I can pick up the novel I am reading, play my latest piece of sheet music on the piano, needlepoint my next creation, join friends at the bridge table, or follow a new recipe. Hobbies bring unadulterated joy, so how is it that our youth has largely abandoned the pursuit of hobbies?
In the fall of last year, Tim Wu, a law professor at Columbia, published an op-ed in The New York Times entitled “In Praise of Mediocrity.” He equates our universal lack of hobbies to “a civilization in decline.” He attributes our abandonment of hobbies to our tendency only to find hobbies worthy of undertaking if they can be pursued at the highest level. Somehow, we have communicated to our children that, for a hobby to be worthy, our children must become a state champion or an expert in the field. Collecting stamps is not enough; our children must develop a stamp collection that will merit recognition on a college application. What have we done?
I believe that our children’s work ethic and classroom performance can be improved if they can counterbalance their hard work with the pursuit of an activity that brings them genuine joy, no matter that their effort renders them only mediocre as a runner, an artist, or a seamstress.
If your children cannot promptly respond with their favorite hobby, help them identify that pursuit, that activity, that enriches their own lives. I believe that our hobbies and interests ultimately yield dividends in the classroom and in the workforce. More importantly, though, they are simply fun, a welcome respite from our daily demands.