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Entertainment Topics
The Magic of Making Stories
Why Children Lose Their Creative Edge
All kids are born creative. It’s a gift from their Creator. But when
given the choice, many children today do not gravitate toward inventive
fun. What do I mean?
A few years ago, I sat around a dinner table with
my father-in-law and
his R.O.M.E.O. club (that’s Retired Old Men Eating Out). Most were
men who had childhoods in the depression or soon after. When I asked what
they did for fun as kids, I was amazed at their stories.
Faced with few
toys, they invented games with little more than a discarded can. They
had marble tournaments. In short, they made their fun.
Many of us have similar memories of our own childhood.
But today, many children
find it hard to amuse themselves. Why?
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Lack of leisure time. Kids are kept busy. After-school programs, sports teams and homework keep kids from trouble, and boredom. But boredom is often the first step to inventing fun. “Down time” is the ground where ideas grow. Dr. Seuss developed his love for drawing by simply hanging out at a local zoo with his dad.
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Readiness of electronic entertainment. When kids do have unscheduled time, fun is just an on-button away. Television, video games and computers (called “screens” in our house) give kids instant enjoyment. Such entertainment can be good, but it can only imagine so far. It locks kids into someone else’s ideas and keeps kids from exploring their own. As Joyce Myers has said, “A #2 pencil and an imagination can take you anywhere.”
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A focus on product not process. Schools are under
tremendous pressure to get kids to test well. Many teachers I talk to wonder
how a
child will learn to think creatively if there is little time for “open-ended
problems” — questions that have many possible answers. Parents,
as well, often focus on final results. We cherish the finished painting
over the pages of messy sketches.
What’s the answer? In part, slow down. Restrict “screens.” Enjoy the creative journey, not just the final arrival. And try out some of my story-creating activities.
— Bruce Van Patter
Do you have thoughts, questions, advice on this topic? Post your stories and comments in the forum for other parents to respond to. Enter the forum now.
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