Telling stories is not just a way of passing time. It is the way the wisdom gets passed along. The stuff that helps us to live a life worth remembering.
The ancient art of storytelling
Month: March 2016
Pictures in the head
Creativity and early years
During the early years we know how great kids are with their imagination. A large chunk of their time is devoted to pretend play or role play where one minute they are a mighty warrior and the next minute they transform themselves into a prehistoric dinosaur stomping through wilderness. Their world is filled with wonder, magic and imagination. As they enter school, however, they are encouraged to think critically and analyze information rather than think creatively. While critical thinking skills are important, it is equally important to hold on to the creative side too.
One incident that clearly stands out in my memory was when my younger son entered Kindergarten. He is a little shy person by nature and was a boy of few words in school. During my first parent teachers meeting his teacher showed me a picture he had made in class which was colored completely in black crayon.” You should encourage him to use colors that resemble real life.” She pointed out and continued while I was trying to comprehend what exactly was the issue. ” Like using peach for human skin and blue for sky. Your son uses colors which sometimes don’t pertain to the real world!”.I nodded still a bit confused, but requested to have the picture which she gladly handed to me. After going home, I called him and asked him what the picture was about and he said,” Oh! This is a black panther walking in the forest at night!”. It made perfect sense to me and I never really bothered telling him what colors to use in his pictures.
Now I must point out, I really valued the constant feedback my son’s teacher gave me about him, which was more than usual due to him being tight lipped and shy and I made it a point to be in touch with her regularly through emails so I could help him flourish. “I’m having a hard time assessing him because he wouldn’t answer my questions!” she told me one time and as much as he was loud and vocal at home, I had to help him come out of his shell while in a social setting. As much as I wanted to preserve the unique personality that my son was,I couldn’t deny the fact that in the real world, he had to give tests and he had to meet social expectations! I had talked to him about it many times and he really didn’t have an answer for why he would not talk in school. I knew he was nervous and afraid and I had to find a way to help him overcome this mental block. I realized children are mostly fed on a regular diet of math and science which are considered more important that creativity is often pushed to the back burner.
Creative thought process
Creativity doesn’t always mean painting or music. It’s more a way of thinking. To find unusual ways to solve problems and look at the world. I knew I had to look at the world through his eyes in order to help him. A wonderful solution came to me as I watched him play his favorite game, role play! If I could get him to see the picture in his head, I knew it would instill belief and confidence in him that he was capable of voicing his opinion and communicating outside home just as he did at home! He already knew how to relax using calm.com so every night as he got ready to sleep, we played a little game. He would close his eyes and take deep breaths and I would name each body part and tell him to relax. Then I would tell him to see whatever I was talking like a movie. I would ask him to see himself walking into his class confidently. I would ask him to see himself starting a conversation and making friends. I would ask him to see himself raise his hand and share his opinion with his teacher and friends confidently. Before dropping him at school, I would encourage him to do exactly as the pictures he saw in his head at night. After doing it for many nights , I noticed changes in him. He made two new friends! And his teacher informed me that she was starting to hear his voice! Over time he overcame his fear and was much relaxed in a social setting.
Mental imagery, a valuable tool!
Teaching kids the skill of mental imagery became a valuable technique I started using in various scenarios .I read up about the benefits of mental imagery in kids which can be found here,power of a child’s imagination .Every night before my boys went to bed I would ask them how they felt about their day and five things they were thankful for about that day.If they were upset about something, I would make them see themselves holding a bunch of balloons in their hands.I would include the five senses and describe in detail the colors, sights, sounds and even smell they had to imagine.Then I would ask them to put their worries in the balloon and let it go one by one and watch it slowly float up, up and away until it disappeared. I found some wonderful imagery scripts online for kids that we could say to them in a soft calm voice while they relax and imagine.
I truly believe that teaching children creative techniques can prove to be a valuable tool for them to use to solve problems in life in unique ways .It can help them maintain an uplifting self image and give them the confidence that they are always in a position to change their life for the better! Not to forget the added benefit of helping them keep themselves happy and always maintain a positive attitude in life.
Finding silence
Seeking refuge in silence
One of the most significant aspect I have noticed in Today’s lives, be it adults or kids is ,’The need to rush’. The need to hurry and accomplish only a million things a day! Because hey! Life doesn’t wait for anyone! Does it? And so we rush off our little champions with a hurried breakfast to school where they need to cram up facts and figures. Then, since they have to be the next sports star, we head them straight to soccer or basketball coaching and since the music industry can’t afford to miss a prodigy, we drag them straight to voice or instrument lessons. Wait! What about art? And all the new hobbies like roller skating, dramatics and robotics? After rushing to all the classes and living up to their parents, relatives, society and just about everyone’s expectations, our little champions are drained to say the least. Even if they have a moment here or there, the laptop or cell phone steps right in and speeds up their tiny brains, thereby tossing out their only chance to slow down.
The question I find myself pondering over quite often is, “How can creativity ever be nurtured in this mad rush?”” What is the point of turning our kids into little super intelligent robots?”” Has rushing ever done anyone any good?” This led me to think of ways to slow down my kids lives and to find silence. Silence to nurture their individuality. Silence to think about their dreams. Silence to listen to their innermost selves and Silence to allow their creativity to blossom. I always thought life skills like meditation and personal development skills to increase productivity and reduce stress were missed in mainstream education and was looking for ways to introduce the same into my kids lives when one fine day my younger son, who was then in Kindergarten brought home a note sent by his teacher. It had a link to a meditation site they were using in class every day and the teacher thought it might be a good idea to extend the practice of meditation at home too! Boy was I excited? I immediately looked it up and have both my sons practice it whenever possible. It has a timer and few sound options as well as a guided meditation option which is good so it doesn’t get monotonous. I started with only 2 mins! And try not to push it beyond 10-15 mins. It gives them a quick mental refresher ,slows their speeding mind and I’m crossing my fingers that it will also ultimately help calm themselves during their tantrum outbursts! (Ambitious!?). Anyways, here is the link to the website.
If kids are taught to manage their minds through meditation from a young age, we could hopefully erase the most fashionable word of modern times,” Stress” from their vocabulary and inculcate much more tolerance and positivity in their lives, not to forget their creativity that will have more of a chance to blossom in the few minutes they spend to listen to their breath and relax.
Digital Monster
Combating the digital age with the innate power of creativity
With the dawn of the digital age, life has definitely become easier, convenient and packed with information.
Communication has taken an entirely new Avatar and information is sneaked into unsuspecting minds day and night through various means.
Information, that is sometimes not necessary and more times not needed by our children. A lot of studies and research have been done and lots of papers published about the harms that The digital age can have on young minds but unfortunately it has become a necessary evil that we just have to learn to live with. With laptops and computers occupying a significant place in school classrooms and other places of education, it is impossible to entirely shield children from The digital wave and so the least we can do is, strike a healthy balance. As a mother of two boisterous boys, I am constantly in search of means and methods to bring back the childhood we enjoyed not so long ago. The slow, dreamy, creative kind. This blog is an attempt to share my journey of finding creativity amidst the digital chaos that surrounds our kids today. A daily attempt to pull them into a lazy summer afternoon, where all they need to do is dream, blow bubbles and wonder at nature’s beauty before the digital monster creeps up from behind and swallows them!
Stay tuned for creative ideas, tips, tricks and all kinds of hacks to bring back a little bit of creativity into our kids lives so life can be a celebration and not a video game.
creativityamongdigitalchaos 