Encourage Your Child's Creativity

What's the definition of the creativity? Creativity can be defined as putting things together in novel ways, or seeing the world, or a given problem, with fresh eyes. Creativity is a key to success in nearly everything we do. Creative people are more flexible and better problem solvers, which makes them more able to adapt to technological advances and deal with change—as well as take advantage of new opportunities.

Many people assume that creativity is an inborn talent that their kids either do or do not have: just as all children are not equally intelligent, all children are not equally creative. In fact, however, creativity is more skill than inborn talent, and it is a skill parents can help their kids develop.

So how do you help your child develop his creativity?

1. Encourage them to question.
Children are curious and they ask many questions, with some capable of even baffling you. Make sure never to curb this habit. Rather, encourage them to ask questions. Curiosities are major step towards creativity. So, try to feed it as much as possible. But, do make sure that you don’t get political or dead serious in answering the questions. Provide open-ended answers and always be game with them. If you don’t know the answer, instead of directly saying no, tell them that it was a wonderful question and both of you should search for its answer.

2. Allow them to make creative art and show respect for their creative effort. For example, you can allow your children to paint on the T-shirt by using their hands and feet. And then, you had better not throw away their personalized T-shirts. You can wear their personalized T-shirts. Kids love to see their labors of love to be accepted by their parents.

3. Encourage them to make mistakes and fail.
Some researchers find that children who are afraid of failure are less likely to think creatively. You can share the mistakes you've made recently, so they get the idea that it is okay to flub up. If your child acts disappointed at making a mistake, try saying something like, “what can we do to change this outcome?” or “how could you do this again?” This is Failing Forward, or looking at mistakes as opportunities for growth rather than failures.

4. Stimulate imaginative, independent thought by posing questions.
In projects, avoid telling kids exactly what to do. For instance, when making a birdfeeder say, “I wonder what would hold the cracked corn and sunflower seeds. What would you suggest?”

5. Give them decision power.
Make kids the master, at times. We always want to decide for our children, as we believe that we know the best for them. However, we cannot decide for them all our life, can we? So it is better that you cultivate the habit of making decisions in your kids right from childhood, to make them self-dependent and creative. Although the absolute power should be with you, let them give a vote on what they want. If it’s reasonable, comply with it.