Hello and Happy Sunday.
Spending quality time with my son is one of my favorite things to do. I love to watch him learn, discover and even make mistakes. It is all good; it is life. I learn while observing him myself and I see how he loves to do certain things with a passion. For whatever reason, when we are close to a piano, he wants to sit and “play”. Or drums. Same thing.
I read the New York Times almost daily and save articles I really like. I stumbled upon a great article by Adam Grant on ‘How to Raise a Creative Child. Step one: Back off’. I found his point super interesting and I am of course interested to bring more creativity into my life – or in my son’s life. I am getting a little philosophical here for a couple of minutes. Grant argues that to a good way to nurture a creative child into eventually being a creative adult is to simply back off.
“The parents of ordinary children had an average of six rules, like specific schedules for homework and bedtime. Parents of highly creative children had an average of fewer than one rule. Creativity may be hard to nurture, but it’s easy to thwart. By limiting rules, parents encouraged their children to think for themselves. They tended to “place emphasis on moral values, rather than on specific rules,” the Harvard psychologist Teresa Amabile reports.”
He further mentioned studies on how creativity gets destroyed when there are too many rules and practice. It is sort of like we are trapped again by the same thought patterns or the same familiar way of doing things. I even noticed this for myself. Writing is my passion. I love it and have so many great ideas. But then in the evening when I am finally at my computer and have time to write it sometimes seems my creativity has just gone out the window. I think this happens because I am also getting sucked into some sort of routine. On the other hand, if I am really passionate about something I do make it happen. No matter what.
“What motivates people to practice a skill for thousands of hours? The most reliable answer is passion — discovered through natural curiosity or nurtured through early enjoyable experiences with an activity or many activities.”
Have you heard about Pragmatic Theory of Truth? I have taken several philosophy classes in college and learned about Pragmatism and a great philosopher named John Dewey. In a nutshell, Dewey was very well knows for his education method and he said that children should be educated through discovery. Children should be able to explore and show a somewhat natural interest in any area or subject. Then you should teach and educate them about this particular subject or thing. He says that it is wrong to force any liberal arts education on a child. One should rather focus on their natural interests that bring more passion into the learning process.
What do you think ? Have you ever thought about this? I would love to hear your thoughts. You can find the article here. Enjoy and have a great week!
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