Tapping Into Creativity

Today, my little 3 year-old man wanted some grapes. Normal routine when he gets home…he wants a snack. I was preparing dinner as he ate his grapes when he said, “Daddy, I made a field goal”. I acknowledged him and said that was good. A few seconds later he said, “Daddy, I made a square. Do you want to see?” As I continued to prepare dinner, I told him good job again but chose not to go over to him to see the square he made with the grapes. A couple of seconds later, I realized I was not encouraging my son’s creativity at that moment. I immediately asked him,”What did you make now?” He replied, “An 11”. At that point I went over to him to see the “11” he made with the grapes (two grapes side by side). I told him that was a great job and he immediately ate another grape and said that he just made a “1”. It was over at that point.

I know it doesn’t seem as though there is much to this experience I had with my son, but it was a small creative event for him. I realized I should have gone over the first time he asked me if I wanted to see his square. He wanted me to see what he made out of those grapes…he wanted to show me his creativity.

We have to catch those moments of creativity in our kids at an early age and encourage them to continue being creative. Creativity exercises the brain. The more exercise the brain gets, the better it is at functioning. The more functioning it gets, the more knowledge it can take in and give out. I think we would be doing our kids and the world a big favor by encouraging our kids to continue tapping into their creativity.

Sparking that creativity may be the boost that leads them down the road of finding a cure for a disease, publishing a bestselling novel, or becoming one of the highest ranking officials in government. You never know. Let’s just be sure we are not too busy to notice our kids when they are trying to tap into their creativity.

Be strong and talk to you soon.