Nurturing Creativity

For most of my life, I haven't really thought of myself as a particularly creative person. I think that is the result of our modern education system. I was good at most of the academic type subjects and didn't do so well with art or music classes, so I thought I wasn't creative. I thought I was just a left brain kind of girl.

Of course that is patently untrue. I have an incredibly creative brain and am always thinking up new ideas and plans. Creativity isn't what schools tell us it is. That said, I have raised two incredibly creative kids in every sense of the word, so I thought it might be nice to talk a bit about what I think is helpful in nurturing creativity and why that is so critical, especially at this point in time.

Why is Creativity so Important

No doubt you are aware we are facing some serious problems on this planet right now. Creative thinking will be required to even figure out what the solutions are. Connecting with others and sharing the message in an effective way seems to be an even bigger problem. We currently have some brilliant solutions in a host of fields from politics to economics to ecology, but communicating and implementing them seems to be a much bigger beast.

Musicians, writers, visual and performing artists are all crucial for this task. It's one of the most beautiful things about Steemit in my mind. Ideas are spreading like wildfire on here. We can all share the knowledge we have gained with each other and brainstorm solutions. Isn't it so beautiful when these ideas are spread through art or music? When we express our resistance and world changing knowledge through farming and sewing? It just spreads the beauty faster. This is how we will create large scale change on this planet. By creating. And sharing our creations.

Nurturing Creativity in the Early Years

So now that we know creativity is a critical gift for continued existence on this planet, how do we make sure our kids will bloom their creative talents? We are all born with brilliant creativity. Anyone who knows small children knows this to be true. They create their own universe all the time. They create conversations between their toys. They imagine all kinds of scenarios. They pretend to be whoever they want to be. They make art out of anything. They sing loudly and dance with wild abandon. Honestly we really only need to stay out of the way at this point. They get it. Better than we do. Just don't interfere. Let them create. Let them imagine. Let them make up whatever they want. You need only give them time and space to explore their creative power. Of course they do also seek our love and approval. When they bring their art to you, offer encouragement. Ask questions. I always ask my kids to tell me about their art. I tell them I love their singing and dancing. When they bring me handfuls of invisible baby bunnies, I ooooh and aaaaahhh over them. "Reality" does not matter. Exercising that creative muscle is far, far more important. Besides, invisible baby bunnies are super duper cute.

This kid is seriously one of the most creative people I have ever, ever known.

That's the easy part, though, right? Most of us already know all that. Unfortunately a lot of preschool programs don't seem to get it. Kids are being pushed to learn to read and write and into a host of other academic material at earlier and earlier ages. Let them play. All the time. For the love of all that's holy, I promise they will learn the skills and knowledge they need. Babies don't need flash cards. Then there's "arts and crafts time" when kids are forced to do some particular, specific, and tightly controlled art project to give to mommy at the end of the day so she knows the kids are being creative. Right. We all know how well forcing kids to do stuff goes. Either they submit to the control and lose themselves or they battle and get labeled with all kinds of lovely names and diagnoses. Just no. Let them be. Your one year old knowing how to read does not make you a better person or even cool. Just let them play.

God Help us All Through the Middle Years

These years are tough. It's just a hard thing to begin to separate from your parents a bit and also become self aware and then also start to care about what others think. These years can be brutal on self esteem. I'm talking about the six or seven to twelve range. You really have to encourage them through this age. They need you to listen to their ideas and give positive but honest feedback. They need to know the things they think and say matter. Do you remember being a kid and getting so frustrated that no one would take you seriously because you were a kid? I felt that way a lot and I swore I would not do that to my kids. Whatever they are exploring is important to them. I know it can be hard to focus after a ten minute explanation of a video game or an eternal rambling about something you don't really know about, but listen anyway. Encourage the exploration anyway.

This one is now almost 16. She must have taken hundreds of these with the Mac photo booth

These are incredibly self conscious years too. So be sure to still dance and play with them and around them. Be sure they know that grown ups still do these things. They may tell you that you are embarrassing, but that's ok. They may become self conscious about dancing in front of others or concerned that their singing or music or art is no longer good enough. They can smell insincerity from a billion miles away, though, so no longer can you get away with, "that's a really amazing picture, honey." Like I said, now is the time to blend your encouragement with honest feedback. Start to share tips to grow their skills, whatever they are, and be honest about your own growth and challenges. This is the time they need to understand that, like everything else, creativity must be practiced. Kids need to know that no one picks up a guitar and plays a song the first time they play. Or even the first month they play it, probably. If they are full of brilliant, out of the box ideas, help them learn to explore them deeply. Ask questions, show them how to ask their own questions and how to dig for answers and then question those answers.

The Glorious, Florious Teen Years

No, Florious is not a word. It's from The Sneetches. Dr. Seuss was a man who understood creativity. Anyway, I'm not joking about the rest of that. The teenage years are awesome. If you have really connected, loving, authentic, and honest relationships with your kids, the teen years will probably not be the disaster everyone tells you they are. I love my teenagers. Of course we all love our kids, even when they're asses, but I mean I love hanging out with them. They are genuinely incredible people. These are the years you start to see all that effort at trying so hard to be a badass parent pay off. As far as creativity goes, these are the years for starting to back off.

This gorgeous, amazing creature! Below is a recent painting she did.

They may not want to share everything with you, even if you are close. Learn to get good with that. Learn to give them space. They need some time to nurture their own thoughts and develop their own unique ideas. Don't worry when they shut themselves in their rooms all day for weeks on end. It's ok. They're fine. One day they will come out with something brilliant. They still need your encouragement of course, but if you have given them an abundance of that in the years before, they probably have decent self esteem. Give them your honest opinion. Continue helping them to question the mainstream narrative and the dominant paradigm. Many teens get really into social justice, and it's a great thing to encourage and a really good time to start sharing really powerful things you have learned in those areas about how to really be helpful, how to find truth, and most importantly how to protect yourself both physically and emotionally in that world. Creativity of ideas is really important at this age. If you listen, you can learn a lot in fact. That's a really important thing to do. They continue to need to feel heard and respected. Honest, open, shared exploration of ideas is really appreciated through these years. This is when you will likely discover they have passed you in many ways. In intellect or skills or art. This is the way of things. Don't let it bother you.

My sweet boys. Hopefully the older one will begin sharing his poetry on here soon.

For now here's a poem he wrote me for my birthday this year:

Marble Statues

There are,
Indeed,
Tears, which
From marble statues
Fall;
Do not grieve
They have pooled
Until a statue
Anew
Has formed
A beauty
And a despair
Of its own
Though one
Can't help
But remark
"It has its mother's eyes"
One, in time,
Slowly carving
Its understanding
In granite minutiae
And only when it
Begins to feel complete,
To find its place
Does it realize
That each growth
Each new sensation
Came from
The sacrifice
Of the stone
Of its mother
A statue near crumbling
There are,
Indeed,
Tears, which,
From marble statues
Fall;
Do not grieve

My 16 and 19 yo's are genuinely brilliant. Of course some of that is nature, but I know I have had something to do with that. My boy is a beautiful poet and songwriter and wonderful guitar player. My daughter is an incredible painter, drawer, crafter, and writer. They both have genius, world changing ideas. They are both already a tremendous blessing to this world. They are also both genuinely kind, loving, thoughtful, and caring. I couldn't be prouder of them. My boy still hasn't told me his Steemit username. I don't think he's written anything yet. I'll keep you posted. You can find my daughter @sophieharling. She has been on a bit of a break lately gorging herself on fast internet speeds at my mom's house but will be home tomorrow and back at Steemit shortly I am sure.

I hope these words are helpful for you in encouraging creativity in your beautiful and amazing children. Much love, y'all.

All pics mine or Pixabay

I am grateful to be a passenger on the ecoTrain! Check out @ecotrain to read more posts from brilliant, giant hearted people changing the world in big, beautiful ways.