That article was pathetic. Children when young need something to be good at. Be it music, art, sports, hunting, etc. The confidence so developed spills over into other aspects of their life. When young, even in college, it keeps them out of trouble.
How about the connection between generations. My father taught me and my brother quail hunting. Outside of work, quail hunting was the activity we enjoyed as a family.
My boys were athletes. When they come back, we always manage a quick game of catch or go over to the field and they hit a bucket of balls or two. It is unspoken, but we all know someday, a game of catch will be our last one together. That aside, it transports each of us back in time to the beautiful shared experiences afforded families that found some activity to share when young.
Saturday, the wife and I watched the alumni play the current college baseball team. Our son renewed face to face friendships, reinforced his business network, and reveled the success of his team mates. People flew in from different locations in the country just for the weekend baseball games. The wife and I saw parents that we had not seen for a while. Very enjoyable.
Special skills or interests are threads in the fabric of life that we all enjoy. I would be willing to bet the author of this article may be missing an important part of life. That part about putting down childhood jealously and capitalizing on the skills he enjoys. The thesis of the article is incorrect and unsupported by his analysis.
