No Idea
Posted at 5:26 am on August 16, 2010 by ShawnC
Shawn is one of our newest writers on the DupageMamas team!! Welcome Shawn!!!
“I have an idea!” “No, I do!!!!” – gosh, my kids say this a lot! I like to think that our little family falls into the “creative” category. My husband is always “creating,” building and remodeling our home. I have an “idea” kind of marketing job that’s different every day. And, whether it’s nature or nurture, it seems we are raising three kids full of ideas from elaborate lego creations and producing movies to upstart dog-sitting businesses. 
That’s why this story in Newsweek grabbed my attention: The Creativity Crisis – research shows that American creativity is declining. What went wrong—and how we can fix it. While this piece seems to focus on trying to determine why creativity is in the tank, what really stood out to me is that many successful individuals share one important trait: High IQ? Ivy League Schools? Nope, you guessed it, creativity. What’s more, a recent IBM poll of 1,500 CEOs identified creativity as the No. 1 “leadership competency” of the future.
As kids head back to “standards-based” learning this month, it leaves to question how to nurture ideas and ingenuity? In our family, we’ve signed up for everything from invention camps to music lessons. We also try to make a big deal about school projects – one of the only areas where our kids seem to have the luxury of thinking outside the box a bit and come up with their own unique approach to an assignment. By big deal, I mean we take photos of completed projects, have them show them off to grandmas, etc. We try to get them to plan out their assignments well in advance and talk about them at the dinner table. That’s not to say I haven’t been at Walgreens at 8:00 pm the night before buying supplies – I have!
I hope this opens a dialogue among Dupage Mamas – I’d love to hear how you get creative about creativity…
Great post! I totally agree that teaching our kids to be creative is one of the best gifts we can give them. I think it is about creating space for them to do so, giving them opportunities and putting them in environments that foster their little brains.
We have a book of “rainy day activities” that we fall to when we have nothing to do. I love putting a blank paper in front of them and some paint or markers and just let them go. I know those are simple ways but I love to see their little brains start to create things when given the chance.
My older guy has a VERY active imagination and is always wanting to “be” something/someone else. I try (as much as I can) to live in that world with him and encourage him to be creative in that way. We also try to do as many new things and activities as we can to meet the same end. Museums, forest preserves, etc… – places that require them to digest new info and think creatively about it (hopefully).
As my boys get older I am sure there are tons of other ways to foster creativity in them. It does seem to be an important factor for success in school and beyond.
Thanks Shawn! Love this post!
Other mamas…..What do y’all think?
I think the creativity dearth has come from too many machines, not enough blank canvas. We were the MTV generation, and since then, two decades of children have grown up with creativity force-fed in 24-hour children’s programming.
Turning off the machines is the first step to creativity.
Welcome, Shawn! And this is a great post and topic. My kids are small (4 and 1) so I’m probably in the learning seat here. One thing I try to do is to be sure they have lots of un-structured time, so they can rely on themselves and have to make their own play. I try to avoid bringing things to entertain them if we’re going somewhere in the car, or to a restaurant, waiting room, etc. I don’t want them to rely on me to give them ideas, I want them to think “I’m bored…I’ll do something” not “I’m bored…give me something to do.”
I’ve seen a lot of initiative in my boys (ok, TONS!) though, and I don’t know what I would do to create this if they weren’t born with it. I’m very interested in what other have to say. AND…very interested in how not to squelch the creativity they do have.
Laurabelle – I just read your post – I agree 100%. I try to limit screen time of all sorts, and even battery powered toys (not all the time though, of course!)
Great post. I agree with everyone about limiting screen time and toys that do it all for you. Good ideas everyone.
My oldest child was born an out of the box thinker. My struggle with her is usually how to set appropriate boundaries around her creativity. She regularly turns my front yard, my living room, her bed, the dishes all into some type of installation art piece. But that makes it hard to keep a tidy house or you know, just clean the dishes that have been stacked into a strange tower.
I love to encourage creativity too. I give them free reign with art materials and let them get messy. I also sit down and do my own art with them with my nicer materials and let them play around with them. Another way I also encourage creative play is to not let them get away with just telling me she is bored. I try not to solve that problem for her–especially now that she is older (5 and a half). “Go play” is a big refrain around here.