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this discussion was very interesting, mainly because of the questions it raised - we spend all this time thinking about how to mold a child's mind, what to say and what not to say, how much positive reinforcement to give etc - but how much of it do we really control?

is a child inherently good at some things? or is it just because of the environment he is placed in? if people push him towards something, will he grow to love it/be good at it?

these leave me wondering. for example, i know a boy who is a brilliant artist, and his parents pushed him towards engineering - it wasn't a you-have-no-choice kind of pushing, but more of a you-have-the-grades-and-the-intelligence-for this kind of 'manuvering'. and while he did brilliantly at his subject, and had the best professors, he never fell in love with it. photography was always his passion and always something he excelled at without always having to try. no one praised his art, they looked at it as a hobby and left it at that, but he was still good.

does this take away from his natural talent? is there anything like natural talent? maybe he could have grown to be a world renowned  photographer, maybe he would have lost interest in it in a while, but what are we really trying to establish when we try and draw distinctions between what youre good at and what you potentially could be good at?

i agree with linkai when he says that kids do not fall under one or the other category of learners - i have definitely, over the years, watched myself change from a growth learner, to an entity learner and back again.

so what should we do? should we praise them, or not? or how?

i think, for the most part, parents and teachers both, should give their kids exposure to different fields of study, different perspectives, different ways of being. they should give them that and then give  them a secure, comfortable base, and then allow them to branch out and live their lives - and im confident that the kids themselves will figure out what they want to do, what they love, and who they want to be.