45 tips for discovering your child's gift

About the Book

In an effort to provide a blueprint or map for parents and/or educators working with our youth, Coach Ivan C. Thomas offers a collection of empowering insights and motivational quotes for parents who have dared to discover what their child’s natural gift or talent.

Coach Thomas believes that the success of our future generation goes hand-in-hand with the ability of educators and parents to communicate with our youth.

If you are a father, mother, an educator or counselor working with youth, you have asked yourself, what will this child do with his life? You probably wondered how you can begin to shape and mold a child’s future. As parents and educators, you may be struggling with issues of an unmotivated child or a child with an educational difficulty—or wondering how to begin to discover your child’s natural talent.  Now, with inspirational quotes and forty-five tips and advice, Coach Ivan Thomas shares his own insights that he has used working with his own team and student-athletes, counselees, and children at home. Coach Ivan Thomas offers a powerful message to parents and educators on how to begin to structure a plan for discovering the natural talent of our children. Coach Thomas leads you through a specific and detailed plan about how to take charge and get started on discovering their gift.  In addition, he offers insight into how to get your child to embrace the journey of discovering a talent and how to use it to improve not only your life but the lives of others around you.  He highlights the same qualities he uses to form and discover the natural talent or play of his team from year to year.  You can affect the outcome of your child’s life through education, tough love, self-control, patience and goal-setting. Coach Thomas stresses how to develop a plan to ensure the success of not only helping your child discover his or her talent, but also how to use it to improve your overall relationship with the child.

45 Tips for Discovering Your Child’s Talents is a necessary handbook for parents and teachers who have been afforded the blessing of working with our youth and desire a resource that will help them come up with a blueprint to discover a child’s gift. Once a child knows what he or she is good at in life, the child has a better sense of purpose and feels like he or she belongs. I can think of no better gift to give a child than the gift of discovering one’s own natural talent that leads to a more defined sense of purpose.

About the Author

Ivan Thomas is an school counselor and head boys’ basketball coach at T.C. Williams High School in Alexandria, Virginia. In his third year as the head coach he has lead the team to winning the Virginia AAA 2008 State title. He has been serving and advising high school and college students for more than ten years. Coach Thomas received his M.Ed. in guidance and counseling from Virginia Commonwealth University and his M.Ed. in educational leadership from George Mason University. He has received coach of the year honors for his outstanding work with high school athletes, as well as being honored by the United Way for his innovative works with encouraging young high school athletes to be leaders, with a reading mentor program entitled “Readers Are Leaders.” Coach Thomas is a dynamic motivator; he has an uncanny ability to encourage and inspire even the most unmotivated students to learn and be productive students and citizens. He has a true passion for young people, and firmly believes that each of them is special and unique in his or her own way. Ivan Thomas was born and raised in Norfolk, Virginia. He is married to Dr. Jennifer Miles-Thomas, and they have three beautiful children, Christopher, Taylor, and Jordan Thomas.