• 22 Nov 2021
• Komal Thakur

Creativity, what a cliché term it is. Every single person wants to be creative. In school, every child is asked to be creative. You move to college, you need to find creative ways to fit into a certain social group. You go for a job interview and you are asked to creatively answer the questions so you can stand out from the crowd. Isn’t it very tiring, to always be running your brains to be more creative. Is it easy to be creative? I believe, creativity is the most difficult thing to do. Creativity is nothing but innovation. Innovating every single day, every single minute, can be tiring. But when a person enjoys it, it’s a beautiful process. Every small thing that has been innovated to every basic need that came out as a result of innovation, is creativity in its bloom. If someone did not have a crazy idea about being able to see the person you talk to, even when they are miles away, video calling would have not been invented. Creativity is bold, it requires a crazy thought. It requires the mind to be so out of track that when a new idea is presented it has to be considered bonkers by everyone who hears it.

I once read a quote by a writer, “Whenever I write an article and present to a few people and everyone appreciates and agrees with it, I discard it. When there is no one opposing my views and my article is not stirring an argument, I believe I have failed.” Isn’t that very powerful? Creativity has to stir up some defense, that’s how you know you are on the right path. If everyone agrees with your idea, it could mean that it is in fact mundane and run-of-the-mill.

So what is creativity and how do some people get to be very creative while others are not?

In today’s time and age, everyone believes that all the greatest inventions have already been made. Yes probably that is true but this is what is so special about the human race, that continuous upgradation is still the key to move forward. Stagnancy is a big failure. In every profession, creativity is the key. In medicine, newer diseases will keep on coming. The perfect anti-ageing medicine has still not been invented. In computers, we still do not have pocket computers which can be used anywhere without needing to carry our bulky laptops or tablets. There is still a lot of scope. It’s a never ending ride into the future, a future that will be constructed by the children of today.

What is your role as a parent and a teacher to ensure that the creative spirit in your child keeps going on?

Encourage your kid to participate in multiple things:

Experimentation is everything. Your kid will not know what he/she likes unless they try it out. Children are already surrounded by competition, in their school, class, colleges, there is a ton of peer pressure to be good at something. As parents and teachers, all you can do is not deny when they decide to try their hand at something new. Yes studies are important too, however if your child is keen on learning knitting, why the hell not. It can be as small of a hobby as knitting to a hobby that requires a lot of time and effort, like singing or experimenting with rocket science, or robotics. Yes, science is creative too.

 

Do not doubt:

Most ideas come from a child who is yet to see the world and understand its trivialities. A questioning mind will often come up with the most creative solutions. As the child is growing up, they come up with at least one idea every day, and when I say child I consider anyone up to the A level, sometimes even beyond if they are still dependent on you for advices. Do not doubt or rubbish any ideas that are thrown at you, even though they are the most absurd ones. Yes you can question them, which will help your kid to deep dive into their idea, and maybe help tweak it for betterment. Open your Instagram and you see creativity all over. Every post and every reel is so creative and interesting, some go viral for the right reasons. Whosoever decided to become the first Instagram influencer, sure had encouraging parents and teachers. Do not let your child’s creativity stop at Instagram though, there would always be newer things to be achieved.

 

Let them quit easily:

One might wonder , what has quitting got to do with being creative. Quitting is the hardest thing to do. With so much importance being associated with not being a quitter, a child will continue to strive hard at something even when he / she is not interested. If it is not fun, probably the child will not be able to give his/ her 100%. And if it is not fun, how can you expect anything creative or moderately happy coming out of it. Sometimes quitting is the most intelligent thing to do. You can imagine it’s a bold move for a child to actually realize that he/she is not good at something and instead of trying hard and failing, he/she decides to quit and try developing something that comes more naturally to him/her. Encourage your child to evaluate the options and help them figure out a way forward.