Creativity - Spark Your Child's Creativity

Does your child become defensive when others don't tell them how excellent their drawing is or gets offended if others are critical of their actions or works of art?

What about when their tower of blocks collapses before they finish building?

Sometimes, children become overly sensitive to criticism of their creative work, so take those opportunities to talk to them about perspectives and ask them to think about why someone would say or do something—whether in a storybook or real life.

Spark their creativity and ask them to imagine what someone might think or feel about doing a certain task or action. It's also an opportunity to speak to them about the personal traits they see in these characters, such as kindness, caring, compassion, etc.

Although research shows that children are usually between the ages of 4½ to 5 years before they can recognise different perspectives, there's no harm in educating a child early and reminding them of views until they comprehend this concept.

Viewpoints

Provide examples about how different points of view are often personal likes and dislikes and that what someone else says is often an opinion and not necessarily the truth; it's that person's point of view at that moment, not everyone's.

In addition, people often change their minds as they learn and grow, both young and old - all the time.

Whether their building blocks collapse or someone comments negatively about their artwork, what matters most is whether they are happy with their creative accomplishments and personal choices.

When they're young, teach your children not to compare themselves to others but to themselves by accomplishing something they are happy with and continuing to improve.

Ask them to 'create' their day when they wake up and share what wonderful things will happen to them that day. Ask how it feels to have a positive mindset and discuss the differences between a positive and negative frame of mind.

Get them to use their imagination to see how it would feel and what a person's day would look like from both perspectives.

Courtesy

Let your child know that while it's courteous to listen to others' views, they don't need to agree with or change their behaviour or beliefs because someone else expresses an opinion, especially if it's cruel or untrue.

Teach them that some people say nasty things, such as commenting on others' looks or something else personal, and that you're always there to talk to them about it when people say things they might find confusing or become hurt by.

However, you must share that some people become excellent at specific topics and experts in a particular field.

So, while it might be worthwhile listening to what that person has to say, they can then consider whether or not they want to take on another's perspective or opinion. It's their personal choice.

Children must realise they have the power of choice. Once they attend school, they will hear nasty things said by others and need to decide who they befriend and how they behave.

You want your child to be confident in themselves and not take on someone's negative opinion or be encouraged to behave negatively.

Rather than becoming overly sensitive to criticism, they understand that everyone has a personal opinion. Once they recognise that, they can choose their behaviour and beliefs.

Your child will continue to grow in self-confidence as they realise they are happy with their life choices. Self-awareness and confidence result in resilience to negative remarks and comments from others.

Talk to your child about the services you use. Let them know you don't have the knowledge, skills, or time to perform a specific task; this is where expert advice can help.

Ask them what they think these people would do in their job. Children pick up far more than you realise.

For example, you could discuss tasks such as building a house, laying timber or carpet, gardening, servicing your car, seeing a financial planner, or using a service they know you use.

Choices

Consequently, when you speak to your child about people's differences of opinion, the way we all view things differently for numerous reasons and that ultimately what matters is listening to others' opinions and choosing whether or not to take those views on board personally.

When children learn that everyone is different and unique because of how they look and what they think, like, and prefer.

Gradually they begin to recognise differences between themselves and others.

Some ways you could teach your child about perspectives is to spark their creativity by either talking about it, drawing it or acting it out: