I needed to read this! xx Your post really encouraged me as I am homeschool an ASD child. Thank you for reminding me it’s important to keep carving our own path.
I am so pleased it was encouraging! So hard to remember it doesn’t matter how we compare to others. I remember a teacher once telling us that she hoped we realised by now that it didn’t matter how we did compared to everybody else - it only mattered that we had done the best WE could do. But I’m pretty sure we hadn’t learnt that lesson at that point, and it’s a hard one to remember even now!
My concern about 'late bloomer' arguments is that all of the examples used are either in the creative industries where you can go from zero to hero quickly with a bit of exposure or are at least 50 years out of date. For many careers, if you aren't on the path by your late 20s then you will never get to the top.
Well, late blooming doesn’t have to be anything to do with your career. A lot of late bloomers feel that they have ‘bloomed’ outside their career, and discovered a whole new side of themselves that’s nothing to do with earning a salary.
I also think it’s possible to be a late bloomer in a career that you’ve been in for decades. People who don’t seem to be making much visible progress to the outside world are sometimes just biding their time and laying the groundwork—they might have been ‘overtaken’ by up-and-comers on the way, but when the moment is right they are ready. There are plenty of people who are ‘on the path’ early, but never amount to much—what is it the ‘special sauce’ or combination of factors that means some people eventually emerge as unexpected talents, and what can we do to identify these people and encourage more of them?
And I’m dubious about overnight successes in creative industries. Of course there are some, but often it’s just that we haven’t seen all the work that came beforehand. There are many creatives who were overlooked for decades until finally they weren’t. Again, what happened so that people we ignored for years suddenly become the hottest ticket in town?
Oh, I agree there is no such thing as overnight success in creative industries ("it takes 10 years of hard graft to become an overnight success" as the saying goes) but what I mean is you can go from overlooked writer to bestselling author on the strength of one book. In the corporate world, nobody goes from middle manager to C suite overnight!
My experience is in the public sector, where careers are unbelievably, geometrically linear. If you are not "on the track" you wont get there later on.
This is good information to remember as a parent. There's been an explosion of kids in the US with developmental delays and disorders, so that's what I use the milestones to go by. There are ways to develop your kids fine and gross motor skills as well other skills. It gives many helpful tips.
It says they're guidelines a bunch of times, as well. As a FTM, with no close family within 4 hours, it's been very helpful to me. I understand that anxiety is just something you have to conquer in your life.
Great article and great reminder. I often use the concept of Zone of Proximal Development by Vygotsky to help some of my clients understand where their children are in terms of learning. I also find that set year group curriculums are an arbitrary way of setting expectations for where your child should be; using these curriculums as a guide can both damage the child's confidence if they are not ready, but also not stretch them when they are ready.
A great reminder!! We actually just released a podcast on Edith Hamilton- a good example of a homeschooled late bloomer!
Oh wow, I’d never heard of Edith Hamilton. She sounds amazing! Adding your link. https://classicalwisdom.substack.com/p/the-life-of-an-american-classicist#:~:text=Classical%20Wisdom%20Members%20can%20be,one%27s%20mark%20on%20the%20world.
Yes - I think you would find her very interesting!
I needed to read this! xx Your post really encouraged me as I am homeschool an ASD child. Thank you for reminding me it’s important to keep carving our own path.
I am so pleased it was encouraging! So hard to remember it doesn’t matter how we compare to others. I remember a teacher once telling us that she hoped we realised by now that it didn’t matter how we did compared to everybody else - it only mattered that we had done the best WE could do. But I’m pretty sure we hadn’t learnt that lesson at that point, and it’s a hard one to remember even now!
My concern about 'late bloomer' arguments is that all of the examples used are either in the creative industries where you can go from zero to hero quickly with a bit of exposure or are at least 50 years out of date. For many careers, if you aren't on the path by your late 20s then you will never get to the top.
Well, late blooming doesn’t have to be anything to do with your career. A lot of late bloomers feel that they have ‘bloomed’ outside their career, and discovered a whole new side of themselves that’s nothing to do with earning a salary.
I also think it’s possible to be a late bloomer in a career that you’ve been in for decades. People who don’t seem to be making much visible progress to the outside world are sometimes just biding their time and laying the groundwork—they might have been ‘overtaken’ by up-and-comers on the way, but when the moment is right they are ready. There are plenty of people who are ‘on the path’ early, but never amount to much—what is it the ‘special sauce’ or combination of factors that means some people eventually emerge as unexpected talents, and what can we do to identify these people and encourage more of them?
And I’m dubious about overnight successes in creative industries. Of course there are some, but often it’s just that we haven’t seen all the work that came beforehand. There are many creatives who were overlooked for decades until finally they weren’t. Again, what happened so that people we ignored for years suddenly become the hottest ticket in town?
Oh, I agree there is no such thing as overnight success in creative industries ("it takes 10 years of hard graft to become an overnight success" as the saying goes) but what I mean is you can go from overlooked writer to bestselling author on the strength of one book. In the corporate world, nobody goes from middle manager to C suite overnight!
My experience is in the public sector, where careers are unbelievably, geometrically linear. If you are not "on the track" you wont get there later on.
This is good information to remember as a parent. There's been an explosion of kids in the US with developmental delays and disorders, so that's what I use the milestones to go by. There are ways to develop your kids fine and gross motor skills as well other skills. It gives many helpful tips.
It says they're guidelines a bunch of times, as well. As a FTM, with no close family within 4 hours, it's been very helpful to me. I understand that anxiety is just something you have to conquer in your life.
Great article and great reminder. I often use the concept of Zone of Proximal Development by Vygotsky to help some of my clients understand where their children are in terms of learning. I also find that set year group curriculums are an arbitrary way of setting expectations for where your child should be; using these curriculums as a guide can both damage the child's confidence if they are not ready, but also not stretch them when they are ready.