What Can Parents Do to Foster Creativity in Children in the Initial Years?

Posted by riya kaul on April 21st, 2021

In the age of technology, creativity is considered as essential as knowledge. Knowledge can be imparted, but creativity develops when the child is nurtured in the presence of artistry around. With the presence of the internet, infinite knowledge is available to everyone at just a click. However, the one thing that machines cannot emulate is the ability of humans to devise ideas, innovate and invent things that could make life easier. 

The new-age parents understand the importance of letting their child be open to imagination and kindle their will to innovate and invent. But, at the same time, there are numerous questions about the same. In the attempt to make their child more creative, parents often end up performing actions that can make their child detest the activity even more.

Day to Day Activities

Activities that require the mind to wander in every direction must be incorporated into day-to-day life. To think innovatively, the child’s mind needs to be trained to do so, and this must begin at a very young age. Generally, children spend the initial five to six years of their lives observing their surroundings, the people and their actions. In these formative years, they perceive social norms, and they learn about the expected way to think, react and behave. As parents, one must take advantage of these years to ingrain the concept of ‘creation’ and ‘uniqueness’ in the child’s mind.

The most important role that a parent can play in developing creativity is setting the child’s mind and heart free. When children realise that they are expected to respond in a particular way and believe the conventional methods more than the new, more feasible ones, they tend to restrain their thoughts to align them with the rest of the average crowd. This results in suppressing their creativity and imagination. We need to allow them to realise that being different is all right. They can be anything and everything they want as long they don’t hurt others. This way, the child would know that there’s nothing wrong with having unconventional thoughts.

Originality needs to be explored

Secondly, we need to make them understand the importance of originality. As the children grow, they come across plagiarism concepts that seem easier to them than generating original ideas. Parents and teachers must make sure not to praise the plagiarised content at homes and in schools just because it is error-free; rather, their uniqueness and openness to imagination must be appreciated. It must be reminded to the young ones that cheating, copying and plagiarism are unfair means and could hinder the creativity that everyone is born with.

Creativity comes from within, and therefore, depending on technology for the development of the same might not be ideal. Letting the children watch videos or play online games that claim to make your child innovative would not prove effective; definitely, technology can help a lot but complete dependence is not the key. The children need to be open to the practical world to think of real-life solutions. They need to perform activities that help in both physical and mental development; nothing else can expand their thinking more than these. The children must be encouraged to complete various DIY projects for kids that could help them grow individually; they must also be taught to play different sports so that the feeling of teamwork develops.

Active participation of parents

Last but not the least, the parents must always be a part of every activity they do. We, as parents, need to closely watch every action of the children and make sure to praise them whenever they open up with creative thoughts. We must correct them when their mind heads in an inappropriate direction, but it should not lead to discouragement in their future endeavours. The parents can get their children an activity box that could nurture their creative side. Thus, the involvement of parents is a necessity for a child’s creative growth; keep this in mind, and your child would provide you with unique solutions that no adult can think of!