Tiny hands, flawless smooth oval canvases, bright vinegar colors, flower stickers and lots and lots of crayons. Quiet focused sighs, excited oos and aws. It’s the stuff art is made of, the stuff Easter eggs are made of.
This Easter, I was again impressed by children’s creative abilities at such an early age. Their ability to pair colors that work so well together. The way purple makes orange spirals stand out, the way teal gives a yellow sun a particular glow. I find it fantastic how naturally decorating eggs comes even at age two, with four works of art going at the same time. Soaking one egg in vibrant color while another egg dries.
Watching this creative process reminded me of a recent story. While working on the floor plans for the newest local school, architectural design team visited the existing school and met with every child, teacher, staff member, and board member looking for feedback and ideas. The designers wanted to know: What would you like your new school to have? The students were grades K thru 12. The third graders were ecstatic about the new school and drew pictures of it. Their ideas included: How about a round library? How about entering the classroom on a slide? What if every wall was a mural? And the ceiling was an aviary? You could make an archway in the classroom wall and build a huge spiral slide that entered the classroom.
The designers were surprised to notice a trend while they were interviewing students and teachers. As their interviews progressed to older students and up the hierarchy, the interest started to decline. By the tenth graders, most of the answers were shrugs, or “I don’t know.” When the board members were asked: What would you like your new school to be? They had only two answers: on time and within the budget.
I was appalled at those results. What is our society doing to our creative children? Why did the school children have fewer and fewer original ideas, and less self esteem to voice them as they got older?
I personally wonder if any of it has to do with Nintendo video games and I-pods and sure, that silly new game Angry Birds.
I am not saying the problem lies wholly within technology, I can only say from a nanny’s perspective: I was heartbroken when the mother of my children gave in to her kid’s requests for a Nintendo video game player. These devices that keep being given to our children at younger and younger ages are helping them tune out. Watch a child with a Nintendo or an I-pod. They may as well be sleeping. They are not present, they cannot interact with anyone else in the room. These devices are habit forming, and so are their isolating results.
Video games do not encourage children to be self entertaining, they often don’t teach anything, nor do they help think outside the box. Creativity is a bird. If you do not feed it for a while, it will not keep returning to your window.
What other factors may have attributed to the progression of lack of creativity in those school children?
Some critical stages in a child’s development are popularly known, such as the fact that introducing a second language before the age of two helps the frontal and temporal areas of the brain remain open so that learning a new language later in life comes easier. Some sensitive windows in development are lesser known, like the idea that a child’s worldview begins solidifying at age six. At age 12, the worldview is sealed. Therefore, to some degree, after age 12, the framework of ideas and beliefs through which an individual interacts with and interprets the world will not change. Our worldview is our evaluative presumption about the nature of things. Its the space within us in which we develop our relationship with our culture, other cultures, diversity, Nature, Religion or Spirituality. Why is this important? It provides the framework for generating and applying knowledge. And just like the space within ourselves that holds love, it can be wide and full or tight and shallow. And by the age of 12, it is as big as it may ever be.
So what can we do? How can we let love in, let the world in, and keep our children awake and engaged with life?
I acknowledge I have a skewed view on all of this because I don’t have children of my own yet. However, I do have little ones in my life that I can interact with, ask questions of, introduce colors and games and projects to. Their creativity inspires me and reignites my own spark. I keep feeding the bird so it can travel far enough to know it has a vast sky of possibility, not just a box, a cage. To color outside of the lines.
To me, it’s a case of why art and music classes should not be eliminated with education budget cuts. It’s a reason to take children traveling and expand their horizons, to take them out in Nature, to the zoo, to play interactive games where they get to design something new. And of course, it’s a beautiful argument for lots and lots of crayons.
To those creative little ones in my world: Amy, Caleb, Betsy and Joss: Please keep drawing. You are good enough. Your art is good enough. Don’t believe anyone who tells you otherwise. Be proud of what you can do.
To the mothers of these fantastic children: You are doing an incredible, admirable job and believe it or not, it’s sinking in.
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