I think it’s a common misconception that some people are just born with creativity.  But creativity is something you develop.  Creativity can grow.  Creativity can also diminish.  When you don’t use a muscle, it loses strength. When you aren’t actively creative and imaginative, where do you think that ability will go? An example: flexibility. When a child joins gymnastics and gains flexibility before they hit puberty, they are statistically proven to be more flexible than the average person for the rest of their lives, even after they quit the sport or don’t keep up the stretching. If we plant the seed of imagination in our children’s minds from the beginning, who knows the places it can take them and how it will flourish.

As a parent, how can you help aid your child in the development of their imagination? That’s the real question. Let your child color outside the lines! Let your child color in general.  It’s as if children no longer know what coloring books are nor how to use them. Coloring books are little, fun brain exercises for the young and old.  Let’s get those creative juices flowing.  You can also take your children to museums!  We need to get our children interested in the world!  They will become curious and curiosity is a great thing! Just imagine how much your child’s brain will expand after one visit to an art museum! There are interactive children’s museums created just for this purpose. To educate your children while they have fun with imagination.

Read them stories! Switch it up. One night read them the story of their favorite tv show character, the next night a tale of battle from ancient times, and the following night a myth from a world of mermaids and fairies.  Children nowadays just know what they see on television.  And that teaches them nothing.  You need to entertain your kids while educating them and teaching them the ways of the world, and that is not done through a tv screen.  The picture is there in front of their eyes and it takes zero to little brain involvement to watch television.  Storytelling is imaginative.  You have to think to see to picture and logic, and this helps our little ones develop their minds.

When a little girl believes in fairies and magic, she may also believe she can be President of the United States one day.  When a little boy believes in dragons and elves, he can believe that one day he will travel to the moon or invent something revolutionary.  Let’s read our kids more fairy tales and folklore. Let’s teach our children stories of the past so that they can change the future. Let’s give them that blank piece of paper and every colored marker imaginable, and see what they create.