Helping Your Teenager Find Their Passion (Tips & Activities)

If you’re a parent or guardian eager to support your teenager in discovering their passion, you’ve come to the right place. I’ve got a range of tips and activities that can help guide your teenager on their journey towards finding their true calling.

Helping Your Teenager Find Their Passion

As someone who’s passionate about helping people uncover their purpose in life, I know firsthand the transformative power of finding what truly drives you.

And as a parent, you undoubtedly share this desire for your child to discover their place in the world and experience the deep sense of fulfillment that comes with pursuing their passions.

But let’s face it, figuring out what you’re passionate about can be a daunting task, especially for children who are still navigating their way through life.

That’s why I’ve put together some steps and suggestions that can help guide your child on their journey towards finding their passion. Together, we can help your child unlock their full potential and create a fulfilling life that they love.

Best Tips To Help Your Teen Find Their Passion

According to a research article by Ye Sun titled “Parental Support for Adolescent Passion Pursuit: A Review of the Literature,” published in the Journal of Adolescent Research:

“Parental support for adolescent passion pursuit includes various dimensions, such as providing resources, opportunities, encouragement, and recognition, as well as facilitating autonomy, competence, relatedness, and purpose in passion activities. When parents offer support in these domains, adolescents are more likely to develop a sense of ownership, commitment, and enjoyment in their passions, which in turn promotes their well-being, achievement, and identity formation.”

1. Let them try many different things

Get them involved in many activities to expand their experience as much as possible. They don’t necessarily have to do an activity for an extended period of time, but long enough to know whether it’s something they might enjoy or not. Then let them move on to something new. Eventually, they will form an understanding of their likes and dislikes. 

2. Practicing and developing their talents

Once your child has identified what they love doing, they should keep practicing and finding better and other ways of perfecting their skills by investing time and energy. There is truth to the fact that practice does make one perfect in their craft.

3. Appreciating skills

All teenagers have within them unique skills and gifts that make them stand out from each other. It would help if you encouraged your child to appreciate and pursue these skills. They will most likely be asked about their hobbies, skills, and passion in their college applications, so getting them to think about and appreciate their unique skills early will be advantageous. 

4. Researching

Help your teenager research and find out what they enjoy. It might require a few trials and errors but encourage your son/daughter to keep pushing. When conducting the research, they might discover that their passion lies in more than one thing.

5. Learn about the world

You might not be able to travel, but through age-appropriate books, articles, documentaries, museum visits, etc., you can dive deep with your teen into other countries, cultures, and opportunities outside of your direct environment.

6. Learning about finances

Encourage your teenager to learn about finances and understand how people have turned their passions into professions, money-making projects, or successful careers.

7. Letting go fear

Following and pursuing a passion can be scary since it requires someone to follow something based on emotion and might not seem practical. Be present for your teen during this period of fear and help them uncover and realize that it only holds them back, and they should keep moving forward regardless.

The fear of failure can be paralyzing; help your child understand that there’s nothing wrong with loss; it’s through failure that one learns and becomes better at something by taking the bold step outside one’s comfort zone.

8. Never giving up

Challenges are bound to happen now and then, and the urge to stop and give up might arise; as a parent, you should encourage your teen never to give up. Remind them that their love for something should give them the energy and drive to keep going. When it becomes too overwhelming, it’s okay to take a break once recharged, pick up from where they left it, and keep moving forward.

9. Let them have fun

The journey to discovering one’s passion does not have to be an all-serious affair. Some teenagers find their passion while out having fun with things like playing video games. Many fields are included in video games, and with the proper control and monitoring, your child might end up on a career path in one of those fields.

10. Mentoring

Expose your child to individuals leading successful lives after following their passions who can mentor and equip them with skills and knowledge tied to their love. It allows your child to hear and learn more about their passion from someone else. The mentor can also help them identify their potential career paths.

11. Lead by example

What are you passionate about? Do your teens see you following your passion and engaging in activities or causes that interest you outside of your job? When you demonstrate your own interests to your children, they’re more likely to participate in their own activities or perhaps even be interested in yours.

12. Pausing and taking a break

In the fast-paced world, your teenager might miss out on noticing certain important aspects of their lives to keep up with the speed at which everything is moving. By slowing down and taking a breather, they will be able to notice where they are, where they’ve been, and where they need to be putting into practice being present in their lives.

13. Understanding feelings and emotions

You should encourage your teenager to process their feelings and feel things according to what is happening in their lives. Passion is driven by love and desire; it is an emotion like any other. Identify what brings them joy, excitement, pain, or sadness so they can identify what they enjoy.

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14. Self reflection

Finding one’s passion is an individual journey done at a personal level and not in a group setting. As a parent or guardian, it’s your responsibility to ensure your teenager understands that by putting themself first and self-focus, they will be able to identify their passion when not distracted by other individuals. The more you know about yourself, the easier you will discover your actual passions in life.

❤️ Suggested Reading: 190 Self Reflection Questions For Students

15. Giving them space

As a grown-up, the urge to always step in and take over your child’s passion project might arise, so resist it. Give your teen the space to pursue their interests; don’t choose or impose your interests and career choices on them, and don’t limit their pursuit of adventure and knowledge unless there is a concern for their safety or involvement in risky behaviors.

❤️ Suggested Reading: Things You Should Stop Doing For Your Teenager

Activities to Help Your Teen Discover Their Passion 

1. Brainstorming

Help your teenager brainstorm to make a list of things that interest and fascinate them. At such a young age, they most likely haven’t placed their finger on one thing in particular. The brain dump helps identify what attracts, interests, and excites them.

2. Journaling

Journaling has always been a great way to let out one’s feelings without the fear of judgment. To encourage your teen to write more, you can buy them a journal where they can write down their plans, goals, life lessons, and experiences. This way, they can also look back, reevaluate and keep track of thoughts and targets.

3. Joining clubs

There might be a club at school that sounds interesting to your teen. Encourage them to at least try it, and they may discover something new and exciting.

4. Setting goals

A teenager can set goals against each item with a ready list. They can start by setting small, manageable goals, then gradually move on to other tasks. The teen needs to be entirely focused and committed to the tasks before deciding if they are worth pursuing further.

5. Creating a vision board

A vision board helps bring the interests to life visually. In a pictorial nature, a teenager can create a board that helps them stay focused on what they want to be or experience. So that it does not become too overwhelming, the board should have a few items at a time and more ideas added as they move on.

6. Getting a support system

Identifying one’s passion might have challenges and instances where your son/daughter might feel overwhelmed. A great support system of family and friends who regularly check in, listen and offer emotional and physical support while holding them accountable helps a lot.

7. Tracking accomplishments

By tracking and ticking off tasks and goals, a teen gains a strong sense of self and more confidence in their abilities and trusts the process of discovering their passion. They can use a goal journal to measure their achievements to make it easier. Please encourage your child to celebrate even the most minor wins because they get the motivation to keep going.

8. Taking risks

It is often said that your greatest desires lie on the other side of your comfort zone. Only by being willing to take risks and trying out new things will your child be able to lock down on their passion. Through it, they might also discover more areas where their interests lie and get to be part of other cultural experiences.

9. Practicing gratitude

Teach your teenager the importance and value of practicing gratitude regardless of what they encounter and the outcome of tasks undertaken. Practicing gratitude helps reduce levels of stress and depression and gives the teen a higher sense of self and positive emotions.

❤️ Suggested Reading: 305 Things To Be Grateful For (Ultimate Gratitude List)

10. Creating habits

Help your teenager identify rituals and habits that touch on their goals. To be able to discover their passion, your teenager has to be patient and consistent, developing practices that ensure they are proactive with an end goal in mind.

11. Taking courses

You can enroll your teenager in online courses that don’t interfere with their regular school work. The courses should be tied and related to their passions. If their passion lies more in extracurricular activities or musical instruments, you can enroll them in physical training sessions.

12. Get a part-time job or internship

True passion can also be tied to professional careers. A part-time job or internship may help your teenager get more involved in a particular field. 

To give your teenager a taste and glimpse of what their future career options might be like, you can help them apply for internships in fields of their passion. Through this, they get to learn and discover more about their passion.

In contrast, a part-time job could also help your child discover what they do not like, which is also important during their development. Either way, you should encourage them to find ways to learn skills and experience different work alongside their education.

13. Volunteering

If the teenager is not up to taking up an internship or part-time job, they can volunteer at organizations that offer such opportunities. Finding one’s passion or niche career might involve trying different things; volunteer opportunities present a great avenue to try out various things without restrictions tied to regular jobs.

What Am I Passionate About Quiz

To find one’s passion, you might need to ask yourself some hard questions. Below you’ll find a list of questions that you can give your teen to think about.

They might not be able to answer them all, but having this list of questions to think about and come back to, will guide them into understanding where their passion might lie. 

• When you were a child growing up, what did you enjoy doing, and was it your favorite thing?
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• What do you want to be in your adult life?
• What are your hobbies?
• What is the one thing you are constantly researching or reading about?
• What are your talents?
• What is your greatest fear?
• What strengths do you have that can make you achieve your goals?
• When was the last time you did something that made you happy, and what was it?
• What is the one thing that would motivate you to wake up every single morning?
• What do you think you were born to do?
• What worst thing could happen if you chose to follow your heart?
• What are your proudest achievements, whether small or big?
• What skills come naturally to you without the need for additional training?
• What reignites your spark and makes you feel alive?
• If you were to win the first prize, it would be for what?
• What are your goals?
• Do you care about other people’s opinions?
• What are you grateful for?
• Are the decisions you are making bringing you joy?
• Would you say you are living your truth?
• What brings you peace and joy?
• What do you need to do to be a better version of yourself?
• What makes you happy when you are complimented on it?
• Who do you consider to be your role models?
• What vision do you have for your future?
• How do you define passion?
• What skills would you want to learn?
• What would you spend that time doing if you played hooky in school?
• What is that one thing you’ve attempted a few times but enjoyed it?
• Assuming you had no fear, what would you do differently?
• What would it be if you could do one thing for the rest of your life?
• What would you like your legacy to be?
• What is your purpose in this world?
• What is stopping you from following your heart?
• What do you enjoy doing so much that you don’t notice how much time you spend on it?
• If you had all the money to do with it what you wanted, what would you do?
• What do you love talking about and never seem to run out of topics on it?
• If it came on TV, what would you never miss watching?
• What is the one thing you enjoy that most people don’t know about?
• What would you do with your life if you had the guarantee of absolute success?
• What would you change about your education if you had the chance to start over?
• When family and friends need it, I am the go-to person for it. What is it?
• Is there someone in particular whom you envy their lifestyle?
• What would you talk about if you had a huge audience and were given only five minutes?
• What makes you procrastinate?
• What do you find yourself daydreaming and zoning off on?
• Where do your interests lie?
• How has a fear of venturing into the unknown served you?

In conclusion, helping your teenager find their passion is a valuable investment in their future. By encouraging them to slow down, process their emotions, prioritize themselves, appreciate their unique skills, and engage in activities that interest them, you can help them identify their passions and pursue them with enthusiasm.

It’s also important to support and motivate them, celebrate their achievements, and help them learn from their failures. By practicing gratitude, creating positive habits, and taking risks, your teenager can unlock their full potential and discover their purpose in life.

Remember, finding one’s passion is a personal journey, and each individual’s path is unique. With your guidance and support, your teenager can discover their passion and lead a more fulfilling life.