When we think of a creative person we think about someone who can make something. They could be good at making things from scratch out of paper or recycled bits and bobs. They may be a writer, an ‘ideas’ person or an artist. We tend to label people as creative or not, ‘No, they aren’t creative, they are more an x person/child ’- and we do this to our children. I think every child can be creative in their own right but it is not your typical creative. It can be cobbling cardboard boxes together to make a tunnel or just painting something abstract. The picture may not look like anything but it is still a creative piece of work. They could also be a creative thinker and problem-solver.
Allow Children To Be Creative Children
All children are creative when we allow them to be. Whenever they have a problem and they need to solve it they are being creative, when they are reading us a story and using different voices they are being creative, when they are doing imaginary play they are being creative. It is not shown in just one form. We need to allow our children to be creative to develop their minds and their imaginations and to develop crucial problem-solving techniques so please allow them to be creative. Don’t step in every time you see them feeling stuck in a problem. Coach them and develop the ideas that they are bringing to you or prod them gently to think differently. Show them how to think more laterally about an issue and come up with ways that they had not thought of before. Those creative skills are there – they may be in another format to yours – and can be honed with your help.
I think it is time to drop the label creative or at least allow it to mean many more things. Do you see the creativity in your child and how?
Image courtesy of Naypong / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
