The freelance writing blogoshere (well, the one I keep up on anyway) had a nice spate of posts about finding your niche a couple weeks ago, and considering some recent happenings in our lives, I got to wondering: Can you have a niche in parenting?

In the freelance world, your niche is basically your specialty, either in practice or in subject matter.

Some things that my children do, study or like to read about in their free time get a reaction and (therefore) encouragement from me. Some may not.

For example, my daughter had an interest in the paintings of Frida Kahlo, which I encouraged by bringing her books and prints from the Detroit Institute of Arts, and by pointing out Frida’s love of Day of the Dead.

Yesterday, when she brought home a coloring book with Van Gogh’s Starry Night, I immediately pulled it up on the net. We’re heading to New York City next summer, which is sure to include exploring the Guggenheim and MoMa.

We encourage cultural and artistic exploration in our kids. Is this a niche? Is this a specialty? Or, is this a matter of family values?

Do you know a family that’s full of animal lovers? Or, perhaps a family full of athletes? My belief is that (present, available) parents tend to push their interests onto their children, whether on purpose or simply by reaction levels.

You may want to keep this present in your mind as you react and interact with your older children. It can have negative impacts, too. For example, if your son asks you difficult math questions, and you have a strong distaste for the subject, you may want to temper your reaction, in order to allow him to develop his own ideas about this important subject.

Meanwhile, I’d consider taking a real stock of your preferred family values, and carefully think of some ways to stress them. If you can connect your children’s interests (for example, soccer) to your family values (say, taking care of your health), then you’re halfway there. Your next step is to react well (”Yes, let’s read that book.”) and then take it to the next level (how about some skiing lessons?). Pretty soon you’ll have a child that’s been schooled on your family values without going through the lectures, growning and moaning.

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