Re that thread, iynait--a great post by Old Dad hits on something key for me:

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One suggestion I was going to bring up has already been mentioned, passions, use them well. Anyone is willing to put more time and effort into something they're passionate about, use your child's passion to get them accustomed to working hard at something and them show them that same hard work results in success in other areas.

Passions can be used to instill discipline and comprehension of the value of hard work without hothousing X random skill for parent bragging rights.

Now, when you have a kid who expresses a strong interest, then freaks out with perfectionist stuff when he/she meets a challenge with it and wants to quit...tricky.