Capitalizing on natural inclinations was easy when they matched my own (books, games, art). It was definitely more of a challenge when it was foreign to my experience... for example, Clay's gymnastics, Cord's linguistics, and Julia's musical talents. Fortunately, I had both the community and financial resources to capitalize on them... finding people who knew more than I did, and getting my kids to their door.

One thing I needed to learn early on was to discern passing fancies from serious proclivities... my policy now is that they have to ask (or show interest in) a thing three separate times before we sign up for lessons or a season (quite a few bucks down the drain learning that one!).

Another skill (this one a little harder for me) was to become brutally honest about me projecting my own hopes, expectations and desires onto my kids' needs and interests... I pushed poor Cord into several things I thought would be "good for him" before I learned that lesson. Hm, I guess that would be the "getting out of the way" part, wouldn't it?