To help gifted children achieve flow, parents and teachers need to understand that state and if possible, experience it themselves. Flow requires an absolute release of normal attention and this means you have to trust the process first, and later on discover whether or not
To help gifted children achieve flow, parents and teachers need to understand that state and if possible, experience it themselves. Flow requires an absolute release of normal attention and this means you have to trust the process first, and later on discover whether or not it goes anywhere.
A common obstacle to flow, as we have seen, is the standing aside from one’s work while in the midst of it. The purpose of this division of attention is self-evaluation, but in flow we know we’re performing well. No separate evaluation is needed.
In addition, gifted children seldom need prodding to evaluate their work because they so often hold themselves to an impossible standard. Therefore, in the rigors of music lessons, art class, drama productions, or any other creative activity, we should encourage our children to spend time in dreamy explorations or in the fun, easy engagement with that activity which probably inspired them in the first place.
That same dreaminess that floats their attention away when they’re supposed to be brushing their teeth or studying will likely enhance their best work for a lifetime; if only we can put ourselves in “hands-off” mode as much as possible. Let them enjoy their violin playing, or their drawing, or their science experiments, and in that total absorption their skills will thrive.