CHILDREN BUILD CONFIDENCE INDULGING IN CREATIVE PURSUITS

Creative pursuits like drama, piano, public speaking, Bhratanatyam, guitar etc, help children build confidence. They become more articulate. They are able to express themselves before an audience. 

There are no class barriers. All parents are keen on their children acquiring a range of skills from drama and public speaking to foreign languages and the arts. In international schools such programmes are integral to the culture.

In an intensely competitive world, many believe that excelling in academics alone might not be enough. The growing focus on all round development encourage parents to look beyond conventional academic pursuits.

The objective is to expose the children to myriad experiences until they turn twelve. It helps them  discover their interests and develop multiple skills. Many parents perceive, these pursuits will help their children stand out and strengthen their applications especially to the foreign universities.

Extracurricular activities help to build a holistic profile. It is verymuch useful for students applying to US Universities. These activities carry less weight than academic achievements in other popular destnations like UK and Australia.

It is the fact  that today's parents recognise the importance of a well rounded education. They take pride in supporting their children's creative pursuits and holistic development. They value exposure to performing arts alongside academics. Parents must expose children to different experiences. But they must give them permission to discover what they genuinely enjoy.

Enrolling children in several programmes solely because of peer pressure or FOMO (fear of missing out) can strain both family finances as well as children's well being. There is a difference between encouraging a child to explore something new and insisting that they pursue it simply because it looks good on an application or build a particular skill. Parents should prioritise activities based on the child's aptitude, interests and developmental needs rather than social expectations.

When children are very young, it is fine to enrol them in several activities. By the time they are 9 or 10, parents must have a sense of return on investment (ROI). They must guage the child's interest in an activity and assess if the child could excel in it.  Once it comes to light parents must narrow the focus to one or two pursuits instead of spending for multiple activities.

The pursuits can be costly. Spending more will not necessarily translate to better outcomes. Parents need to budget carefully, prioritise activities and decide how many programmes they can reasonable afford. They have to prioritise one or two  activities, esimate all associated costs and make monthly provisions.

They have to include such expenses in the monthly budget without compromising on essential savings, retirement planning or the child's higher education corpus. For instance, if the allocation is 10% of the household budget for education, please take care to putting aside an additional 5-10% for extracarricular activities.

A leaner, more focussed list of activities could work in a child's favour when applying to foreign universities than a lengthy list of activities. Selective US universities that employ holistic review read the whole application looking for sustained commitment with real achievement. One or two pursuits taken seriously are easier to explain and substantiate in an apllication than a long list.

Activities like drama, music and public speaking nurture confidence, creativity, communication skills and emotional resilence. They build healthy coping mechanisms. Although they may strenghten applications to the universities, their real value lies in preparing children for life. 

Preethi Kulkarni write in The Times of India of 12th November 2026