Children and creativity

Creativity is sometimes seen as turning words into a novel, movie or even seeing the world or a problem with fresh eyes. Everyone needs creativity from time to time. Some people are born talented; an artist’s eye, for instance, or a perfect pitch, or a writer’s way with words - we can always instill these traits in our children. Not all children are born talented but every parent can help them spice up their creative juices. They need to be taught about focus, competence and optimism. Recent studies examining creativity have surprised researchers. The researchers began with the assumption that kids recommended by their art teachers as most creative would be the “artist type” - offbeat, disorganised kids who performed more poorly in other classes at school. They were wrong. Mariam Mutagoma, is a mother of two little girls and an older boy. She says a child who is involved in many activities like singing, playing instruments and sports at a tender age is usually wiser than his peers at school. “My little girl Sabrina has been having art classes since she was three, she is really creative and usually thinks outside of the box,” she said with a smile. “The keys to my car could be missing and when she remembers that they are on top of the shelf, she will get a chair stand on it and pick them. It’s not the first thought that comes through many children’s minds.” High School art teachers in the USA were named as most creative and their students excelled at getting their work done in other classes. These kids exhibited concentration during demonstrations of technique, the competence to plan their projects, the optimism to take the risk of a more difficult or original idea, and the perseverance to put in the extra time required to do a thorough job completing the project. Well this doesn’t necessarily mean that the child develops talent but it highlights the point that putting creativity to use in the world requires the same qualities of critical thinking that a child develops when he’s taught to be creative at a tender age. It also implies that the same parenting that helps kids become emotionally healthy encourages creativity.