1. Play a musical instrument!
Be a self-taught musician. Join a band. Hang out with musicians even though they may be excessively idiosyncratic. Because that is a mark of a genius! Be a life drummer, a kitchen orchestrator, a beat boxer, a street rapper! Experiment with sounds! Once you get a band together, put up a recital! Invite family and friends. Have a good time!

2. Do Art!
We’re not talking about doing art classes. We are talking about using your own natural expressions to do art. Try out different types of pencils, pens, paints, boxes, materials and points of view. Draw whatever that fancies you. Remember: there is no wrong in art! Do not believe the teachers who dare fail you in art. Believe in yourself! Hold an art exhibition (at your community center, library or public park). Share your art!

3. Do a play!
Stop searching for drama classes. Start one! Put up an announcement for a play. Get interested people to join. Together, plan a story, write a script, do the dialogues, do a performance. Get your community involved!

4. Write a book!
You don’t need to be great with words to be a writer. You need to be great with ideas! Get friends involved. Share ideas. Share writing tasks. Check out different book-making styles and writing styles. Consider electronic publishing where you can put in videos and pictures easily. But the good old-fashioned book is still in demand for children books and special interest books. Enjoy the process! Do a book launch at your local bookstore or library!

5. Make a film!
With cameras and recording devises made more affordable for the common folks, you can easily make a short film using the most basic handheld recording device. Shoot an old town scene, a historical place, interview the locals, highlight a cause, etc have a film night to show what you have come up with! Working together with a group of friends makes it more fun!

6. Make something!
Children here do not make things. They study too much but have no idea or inclination on how to make things happen. So give them the recyclable materials. Have them make whatever they fancy. Let the imagination fly! Get other kids involved. Organize a community Make Something Day! Record it on film and share it on Facebook! You can also make your events global!

7. Start something!
Most kids (when their enthusiasm has not been killed by schooling) will want to start something – a lemonade stall, a cake & cookie business, an art & craft business, etc so give it to them to start their enterprise NOW! Not when they finish school or when they finish college, or when they have learned enough words or enough math or enough science, or enough business studies….start small and build it up for there. Make that their education! The returns on investment may surprise you!

8. Be something!
All kids are asked this question: when you grow up, what do you want to be? This implies that kids can’t be anything as kids. They have to wait till they grow up to do the things that they want to do. But in this day and age, things are changing. Just look at all the kids who take part in talent shows, cooking competitions and even fashion designing! They have one thing in common: Their parents do not make them wait till they grow up to pursue their dreams! They are being singers, dancers, artists, designers, actors, writers, chefs ……the future will be ruled by kids! Mark my words.

So, study less and do more! The world is your oyster. Start living your dream now! Don’t wait till you grow too old and boring. You can help your child build his dream in the real world. Or you can help hold him back in the fantasy world where every kid is expected to study, ace the exams, go to college and have a dream job fall onto his lap!