All parents want to raise their children to be top-notch and high-quality individuals. To do so, one needs to take a step beyond the usual parenting method and embrace teaching your children to be creative and imaginative.
Every child is born with a gift of imagination. However, as children grow, they are forced to conform to societal standards, thus giving no room for them to nurture and explore their creativity.
As a parent, you must ensure that you leave room for them to be creative. Whenever they return from school or have a break, make sure they engage in activities encouraging them to show their creative side. Do not be a part of a society that seeks to limit children’s creativity.
Recommended things to do to encourage creativity
Creativity may come in different forms. Some children are instantly born with a creative mind that indicates a passion, for example, art or storytelling. While others are not that straightforward. As parents, you must help your child recognize their creative mind and nurture it so that it yields results and makes them better people.
For children who seem to lack creativity, you can engage in these activities to encourage them to turn to their creative side.
They include:
1. Engage in creative activities together
The first step is to spend time with your children. When your children feel loved and cared for, their emotional and mental state is in a good place. This allows them to be more creative as they are not burdened by anything toxic. Together you can do creative things like trying a new cooking recipe, painting objects, reading books, etc. Always remember that children imitate their parents a lot. So if you embrace your creative side, your children are likely to do so too.
2. Go out regularly with your children
Many creative minds usually credit nature as their major source of inspiration. You should go out often with your children and just bask in nature’s beauty and surroundings. You can go for a picnic, to the zoo, museum, amusement park, etc. Ask leading questions and be ready to explain things they may find interesting or confusing.
3. Enjoy role play
This technique can be used in a variety of ways. One way is to tell your child a story to reinforce certain ideas. Another way is by performing real role play with various props, such as homemade costumes, which you could make together as a family. Role plays are a very effective way to encourage creativity.
You could take up certain characters loved by your child and act up a storyline made up by them. Encourage them to watch cartoons that help nurture their creativity.
4. Buy them great toys that help creativity
Another good advice on encouraging creativity is for parents to buy great toys such as puzzles, jigsaws, geometric blocks, etc.
These toys encourage critical thinking and the use of one’s imagination. You should also take out time to play with them sometimes.
What you should not do as a parent with a creative child
As parents, we may often get carried away during our quest to build creativity in our children. There are certain things we must never do to our children; otherwise, we risk killing their creativity.
One thing is to ensure that our children are not under any form of pressure to impress us. You must not demand perfection from your child or rush to use negative words on them when they make any mistake. Parents must ensure they constantly encourage their children with love and understanding and not mock them when they do not get things right.
If you only constantly seek to correct a child, the child will stop being imaginative, which kills their creativity. You must be careful to avoid this.
Building and nurturing creativity in your child is a positive parenting method that all parents should seek to embrace.
