Children are often far more gifted than their parents or teachers realize--and in different ways. IQ tests do not measure creative talent. Is it possible we are missing the talents of many of our most gifted youngsters? Most children start life with valuable creative potential. Unfortunately, many of them have it knocked out of them, so to speak, by the time they reach the 4th grade. It is not that parents and teachers deliberately squelch creativity; rather, they fail to recognize it, sometimes mistaking it for unruliness, eccentricity, and even stupidity. Creativity involves getting away from the obvious, safe, and expected, and producing something that--to the child--is new.
In 1968, George Land distributed among 1,600 5-year-olds a creativity test used by NASA to select innovative engineers and scientists. He re-tested the same children at 10 years of age, and again at 15 years of age.
Test results amongst 5 year olds: 98%
Test results amongst 10 year olds: 30%
Test results amongst 15 year olds: 12%
Same test given to 280,000 adults: 2%
"What we have concluded," wrote Land, "is that non-creative behavior is learned."
The most powerful way to develop creativity in your child is to be a role model. Children develop creativity not when you tell them to, but when you show them.
Fear of Failure
Trying new things is the best way to learn. Resolve yourself to understanding that it won't always be successful, but we still have to try and even encourage mistakes and failures. Imagine telling your 11-month old as she tried to pull herself up and walk, "Let go of the table, sweetie. You've tried to walk three times now and have continued to fall, so just give up." We have to realize that growth, innovation, and creativity thrive when mistakes are encouraged. Darwin found that the most adaptive creatures survive, not the strongest or the most aggressive. Are we too quick to solve our children's problems?
Too Many Rewards
When our children do something, we have to encourage them to simply enjoy doing it rather than the competition or the reward. We are too quick to give stickers, ribbons, and trophies for anything. All this does is promote the external value rather than an internal warm feeling. We pay them for grades, rather than instilling in them a pleasure for learning.
No Time To Play
Today, why is play considered a four-letter word? Having time to daydream, think, and play gives our children the opportunity to come up with ideas of their own. We over-schedule our children for a number of reasons, ranging from the perceived importance of how things look on a college application to the concept that children who are busy will stay out of trouble. Sadly, there is truth to both theories. But our children are hurried from baby swimming lessons to Harvard with no time to daydream.
Parents are the perfect educational toy
We even buy creativity kits in nice little shrink-wrapped packages. Does creativity come in a kit? What if we were to give children activity and craft kits with some of the materials missing? They might create something new. They might figure out, when faced with a problem, how to solve it. Babies are put in front of Baby Einstein DVDs for early stimulation, which is really ironic because, as a child, Einstein began to talk later than usual and did poorly in school. If he was in school today, he'd be on Ritalin, and we'd still be looking for a theory of relativity! Are we as parents outsourcing our job as our child's most important teacher under the premise that we're doing some good?
Children get it; they like to be read to because of the closeness they feel with the reader. Even with the advances of high definition TV, it is still better for a toddler to walk with you as you talk about the leaves that crunch under your feet, or see a real spider weaving its web. There is tremendous joy that comes with having children, but the joy comes from spending time with your children. The gimmicks are not advantages.
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