To promote the creativity of your child

Who does not want that secretly: A child who once becomes a famous painter, singer, athlete or politician. There is a great deal of creativity in every child, but this must be encouraged early so that it does not stunt as it grows.

© Jaimie Duplass - Fotolia.com

What is creativity?

Creative children are not highly gifted and not every child has the same talents. Basically, one understands creativity as the ability to solve problems through already acquired knowledge and skills, but also through mental games - the imagination. Creativity is a mostly unconscious process in which the brain - especially the right brain - takes the helm. Often children and adults get into a kind of trance during the creative process: the outside world disappears, they follow their instincts and let their creativity guide them. In this way, creative people tap into areas that are barely accessible to the logical mind.

Especially children are masters in being guided by their creativity and inspiration. However, the older they get, the more logical thinking comes to the fore, and then the creative parts easily wither away. In order to prevent this, parents can promote and maintain the child's creativity and perhaps even find their own way back to their own, long-buried creative parts.

Promote the creativity of your child from the beginning

Creativity can be encouraged even among the smallest: Do not take everything from your baby, let it solve problems from the beginning. The thought processes that are stimulated by this will make your child creative. Try placing your child's crawling round in the living room with obstacles. With every new barrier, it has to think twice and look for a solution in a creative process that can overcome the obstacle. Particularly beneficial are PeKiP courses (Prague parent child program), in which the motor and also the cognitive creativity are stimulated under guidance

Another way to provide children with creative opportunities right from the start is to be provided with various materials that they can experiment with without restriction. For example, wooden blocks, bits of paper or fabrics are suitable for this. Larger children can become creative with clay, salt dough or plasticine. It is important that the materials do not give any specifications, but that the child can freely and intuitively decide what should emerge from the materials. The same principle applies to musical instruments or to the language. Let your child experiment with pots and cooking spoons, sound woods, guitar or piano. Suitable is what is available. It is important for a free experiment that the parents make no demands on any performance.

In addition to the experimental processes with materials, parents can also promote childlike creativity through other methods:

Read fairy tales - the simple pictures conveyed by a fairy tale allow the child to let his own imagination flow in an inner world of images.
Play theater with your child - improvised plays are an excellent way to promote problem-solving skills and intuitive creative responses.

The right atmosphere for creative action

When children feel free and without pressure to perform, they can become creative. As a parent, you can create an appropriate atmosphere: encourage your child to try things, and it's best to just join in. This also includes listening to the child, having a share in his or her processes, and looking for solutions together with them without, however, evaluating the result in terms of good or bad. Even if the child presents a solution that is unusual for you, a solution is a solution. Here you should free yourself from your own conventions and appreciate that the child has developed something of their own. This applies to all areas of creativity.

What makes creativity stunt

As many possibilities exist for promoting and sustaining childlike creativity, so many are there to lessen this great potential and let it fall asleep. Everything predestined and preformed slows down the child's inner process, forcing his imagination into forms and gradually causing creativity to take a back seat more and more:

• Coloring books: Children love them, but they make sure that the child no longer has to think for themselves, but only paints prescribed shapes. An alternative is mandala coloring books, which focus on color compositions through repetition and abstract forms.

• Painting by numbers: Here the children are even restricted in the color scheme. Give your child paper and water colors. Bigger kids can try to paint something off instead of painting.

• Television and computer games: allowed in moderation, but excessive consumption ensures that children can only do that: consume. They stop developing something themselves, because almost everything is given.

Even if a child is constantly being deprived of all problems, he or she forgets to be creative and seek solutions. Creativity is an everyday process that helps children, and later adults, to cope with life. Help your child develop this ability!