We are in a time when creativity is increasingly valued in adults because it seems that when you are a child, it is scarce. Society is very concerned about the success of children but does not care about how to make them achieve it. Parents are concerned with grades, tests, how to learn sooner and faster, how to compete better and achieve the maximum at all times. Although success can come, is it possible that in the process of focusing so much on achievement we forget the importance of creativity? And most importantly, how to develop that creativity early in children's lives ...
Creativity is necessary for the development of children and must be promoted from the earliest age. It is worth rethinking how it is potentiated and how to achieve good results. Allowing children to explore the world would be an idea to encourage creativity ... early development of this is much more important than you think.
The creativity
Creativity can be defined as imagination or original ideas, especially in the production of an artistic work. That is the traditional thinking of creativity, but creativity is much more than that. It is literally essential to everything we do to be successful. Creativity helps us cope with change, solves problems, affects our social and emotional intelligence, improves our understanding of mathematics and science, and is a key component for health and happiness ... So creativity that's all.
As if that were not enough, creativity is necessary to influence children's lives because it can help them to unleash their full internal potential. The most common thought is to believe that a person has talent only if they are born with that "gift", but the reality is that it can be developed. Parents' support and guidance about a child's curiosity, as well as their support in the things they enjoy, are far more often an indicator of future success than anything else.
So what does this mean? In simple terms, it means exposing our children to things that help them explore their curiosity and creativity stimulates their talent potential. The idea is that if creativity is developed at an early age, parents can help children reach their talent potential.
How to encourage creativity in children
If you are a father or mother of children, then it is in your hands to encourage the creativity of your little ones so that they have more opportunities in life. This means that creativity is not something you are born with, it is something that must be promoted and parents have the absolute responsibility for that to happen. If you don't know how to enhance the creativity of your children, below we are going to give you some tips that may interest you, put them into practice now!
Ask questions and encourage critical thinking
This is probably one of the easiest ways to encourage creativity! When you walk in the park ask him lots of questions. Ask him anything you can think of: the color of the sky, if he sees the birds, why are there trees, what is his favorite color, etc. Obviously, these questions will depend on the age of your child, But the goal is to get them to think about the world around them and use their imagination.
Encouraging critical thinking requires looking at everything through a scientific process lens. Before starting a task / project / game, ask them what they think the result will be. And when you ask them this question, don't interrupt. Let them think it through completely without your guiding their response. Then once you are done with what they were doing, ask them about the result and compare it to what they thought would happen. This can be as simple as jumping into a puddle or as complex as doing science projects.
Free time and time to get bored
I'm not sure when we as a society decide that every moment of our children's lives needed to be filled with some kind of activity. It is important that children have moments of inactivity and boredom. These moments are really important because children are given the opportunity to explore and wonder for themselves… And they use their imaginations. Which, as we've talked about, is super important to foster creativity.
Create a space to be creative
This is important because it allows children to tap into their imaginations. If you can't dedicate an entire room to it, don't worry. A small corner in a room or even a box full of goodies works just as well. It's not about space. It's more about what's in space. Fill the area with things that children can dress up with, pretend with, explore, and express themselves with. Some ideas for this are; old clothes to use as dress clothes, objects they can play with, legos, art supplies, blackboards etc.
Do not reward your children for achievement but for effort
Obviously, we want to encourage our children's achievements. But, it is more important that we talk with our children about the steps they took to achieve something than to seek the end result. Ask them what obstacles they faced and how they navigated through them. Ask them what they learned from this achievement. Or ask them what they liked or didn't like about the process. By doing this we allow our children to think about what it takes to achieve a goal, how to do it better next time, and really decide if they liked the activity they were doing.
Do not intervene
This can be difficult for many parents ... But, Letting children work through "things" on their own is really worth it. Instead of us stepping in and solving problems by and for them, they are forced to learn how to solve problems on their own. Which in turn forces them to harness their creativity to figure out what to do in certain situations. Take a step back and give your kids a chance to figure out what they want, how they want to do things, or how they want to solve problems.