The adventures of Mommy woman
Letting our kids' imagination run free
Published on March 28, 2004 By JillUser In Home & Family
Anyone who knows my 7yr old will tell you he is one of the most creative, imaginative kids you will meet. I, unlike a lot of parents, don't just chalk that up to his superior intellect. I think his freedom to think has a lot to do with it.

Unlike a lot of kids we know, we didn't chuck him in preschool as soon as we could. I did a lot of research on the pros and cons of early education. My findings pointed toward restricting free thinking by too much structure too early on. Kids are shuffled from "learning station" to "learning activity". They are told exactly what they can have to eat and when they need to do each event in their day. Some of these kids end up not being able to make a move without asking someone what to do.

In that same regard, I feel coloring books are over used. It tells the child what to color and where to color it. Give them a blank piece of paper, crayons, pencils, safe scissors and tape and who knows what they will create. My son writes stories, makes cartoon pages, cuts out shapes, makes his own board games, stuff I would never think of! He creates his own characters. I myself lack the ability to do that.

He will sit at the counter for hours some times writing his stories or creating whatever comes to mind. He isn't limited by my preconcieved notions of what he should be doing with the activity. He asks how to spell words I didn't even know he knew. He even creates his own codes and languages!

I am not trying to toot my own horn as a parent. I have very little to do with his ability other than giving him the freedom to discover it. So the next time your child says "I'm bored" (and that happens about a million times a day some days) give him/her some blank paper, crayons, etc and let them create.

Comments
on Mar 28, 2004
You're an awesome parent. I love that you take parenting seriously enough to research before making decisions based on how other parents do it.

I remember asking my mom what color a rabbit is supposed to be when I was little. Her response? "The color of the rainbow."

Of course, my mom's a crack-head, but that's beside the point.

Trinitie
on Mar 28, 2004
Trin, you almost made coffee come out of my nose! "Of course, my mom's a crack-head" LOL

Thanks for the compliment. My family means everything to me. I want to give my kids everything in life that I can and that includes the individual care they each need to thrive. What is best for one might not be for the next.
on Mar 28, 2004
I agree with you 100%. As a base daycare provider we were not allowed to give them coloring books or coloring sheets because it does stifle their creativity. As we say they should learn to color outside of the lines. What age did you put your son in school? I am trying to decide whether to put Brody in Pre-K or let him stay home with me until Kindergarten next year. He says he wants to go to school but I'm sure its just that he wants to be like his big brothers. I do home daycare and some parents want to know your curriculum - lik I'm teaching them French. They are kids. We do craft activities, we sing songs and dance, we play outside, we have lots of free play, I read to them every day but I do not have a curriculum. We do not do flash cards. We do have a routine as far as meals, snacks and quiet time but when you have 5 kids it has to be that way. I also think a lot of parents make a mistake by over scheduling their kids. Sometimes I feel bad that my boys aren't in more activities but when I see how crazy these peoples lives are - baseball, guitar lessons, choir, cub scouts etc. It just never ends.
on Mar 28, 2004
Locamama, glad to hear you are letting the kids be kids. My 7yr old went to an early five program since he was born the last day of November. We are enrolling our little guy in 4yr old preschool. He turns 4 in July and is chomping at the bit to go to "school". It will only be 3 times a week for a couple hours at a time. I think it will be good for the both of us to ease into real school.

My 7yr old takes Tae Kwon Do once a week and in May both will start baseball. The 4yr old will be in tee ball and the 7yr old will be in coach pitch. The 4yr old is very interested in sports and the 7yr old needs to give it a try. He is in Tae Kwon Do to start building some confidence physically. Hopefully it will help with his baseball experience. I don't believe in having them in a bunch of stuff though. Life gets crazy and stressful far to early. Why rush it?
on Mar 28, 2004
It is great to hear that you let your kids be kids. I am a nanny and the family I care for currently took a while to undrestand why my "art projects" were not a step by step, everybody make the same thing ideas. We make books, paint, make jewelry boxes, decorate picture frames. We have our craft bag. It has feathers, paint, markers, sparkles, colored paper and sequins and tons other other stuff. The kids know they are free to do whatever their minds desire. It makes me sad when the 4 year old brings her pojects home from pre school. They are all pre cut out paper that all the kids have to do is glue on. All the kids have to do is glue them on paper. When she colors at school it is all coloring sheets. Last week she brought one home to show me and she tells me, " It is not good cause I accidently got out of the lines." My heart broke. I told her it just made it more special because it was different than everyone else's. What are they teaching these kids? Will they ever be creative adults?
on Mar 28, 2004
Opps! Sorry the above post was from me not MR. Right. My hubby forgot to log out and I had not noticed! So that was me not him!
on Mar 28, 2004
All three of my children used used computer paper to draw on. They would draw for hours. My favorite picture drawn by my son was of a rabbit wearing headphones. My daughters drew twin girls with bright green eyes. They did have coloring books, but ignored them most of the time. We did other fun things too. At Christmas we made the decorations out of candy and another year out of paper.

My grandchildren are too active to enjoy drawing and coloring. They would rather run and ride bikes.
on Mar 28, 2004
Two Christmases ago, I gave my daughter (then three) an art box. It had colored feathers, beads, glue sticks, markers, dye cuts, pipe cleaners, glitter, buttons, wooden letters, pom poms, googly eyes, sequins, and a whole mess of things I found at hobby lobby. She has LOVED this box. She gets as gifts from relatives things like stickers and bags of art stuff for her projects because they're all recepients of her many projects. (She'll glue feathers and glitter to something and write the person's name on it and "I love you" with her name on it and we'll mail it.) She draws cats on tables and "porky pines" and all sorts of neat-o things that people love to get. She loves to get the letters they send back to her. She likes her coloring books too, but she says, "I'm practicing" when she uses them. To her, they're not the "real" thing, so I'm satisfied. My favorite project of hers was when she helped disguise her cat with the colorful feathers. I think I'll write a blog over that. Thanks for the great subject, Jill...
on Mar 28, 2004
Art is where it's at. My girl loves it, and I do, too. Our art projects are the kind that are usually big, messy and takes days to dry out. Her pappa has a workshop and she loves making stuff with wood, glue, nails and everything else that is a part of his shop.
She went to daycare from the age of 1 up until 5 and she didn't bring home that many pre-made art projects. They made things there that I wouldn't even consider making because it's been so long since I've done it myself!

Daycare in itself was good for her. It taught her a lot of things that went along with being part of a group. Sharing, trying new activities and relating well with different adults and children made her transition into school that much easier. I think it made her more independent as well, and taught her that not all children who are her friends stay her friends forever (because most move on to different school districts). But it helped her to deal with those changes and making friends more easily.
on Mar 28, 2004
great topic, great thread. When I finish my paper on John Stuart Mill, i'm going to edit it a bit for length, and then post it here on JoeU. J.S. Mill had one of the most remakable childhoods ever. He was doing 'rythmatic and learning Greek at the age of 3... it's extremely interesting to me that you used the term "blank paper" in your title because the entire Empiricist movement was built on the John Locke's theory that the mind is a blank sheet of paper to be written on. (the origins of the theory date all the way back to Aristotle's 'tabula rasa', which is Latin for blank slate)

we're supposed to be in this great 'information age', and our educational system still hasn't got it figured out. From the sounds of things, some of y'all do though!

Creativity really is a powerful thing for kids of all ages... (and prob'ly for us crusty old folks too)... I agree completely that parents have a huge affect on it too... I can't for the life of me remember who it was, but there was a famous scientist once upon a time who told a story from his childhood that went something like this. (i'm paraphrasing the story) "I wanted to be a 'big boy' and pour my own glass of milk. I got the milk container from the refrigerator, and when I tried to set it up on the counter I dropped it, and of course spilled milk all over the ktichen floor. My mom came rushing in, and of course I was petrified that I was in huge trouble. Instead of screaming at me, she calmly started getting the stuff needed to clean up the mess. She even let me help. Then when it was all cleaned up, she took the time to show me how to take the milk from the fridge, and how I could hold the container so that I wouldn't drop it anymore. She taught me a lesson that I would carry with me for life. She taught me that it's ok to make mistakes, and the importance of learning from them."

I know that's not really inline with the whole creativity thing per se, but in a way it fits...

anyhoo, that's a 1/4th of my two cents...
on Mar 29, 2004
imajinit, you did touch on a key part of parenting, that is letting kids do things for themselves. We need to guide and help them but the best thing to do for them is to let them find their own way. Let them do things their own way sometimes. It is easier to just do everything for them but then what are they learning. They might even teach you something. For instance, my son wanted to put tuna, mushrooms and french fried onions in his Easy Mac. Sounded and looked gross to me but it turned out being good and easy. He calls his recipe "Super Sonic Brain Food". Super sonic because it is so fast to make and Brain food because it has tuna in it.

Don't tell him I told you the recipe. It is supposed to be a secret
on Mar 29, 2004
Jill- Your son sounds like a doll, you must just want to hug him and squeeze him all the time! I love hearing tales of your kids. THey bring a smile....
on Mar 29, 2004
I do hug and squeeze both of them all the time. The little one wasn't big into giving hugs and kisses or saying "I love you" but he is starting to do all of that a lot now. In a way it makes it that much better knowing that he isn't just doing it as a response. He waited until he understood what it meant. They love to do stuff together too which is so wonderful.

I am so glad you enjoy my mommy tales