Nurturing creative children
by Dr Yew Kam Keong
Children are creative little creatures. To appreciate this fact, all we need to
do is to watch them at play. However, according to experts, unless children are
encouraged to 'grow' their creativity, this innate skill will quickly diminish as
they grow older.
To explain about creativity and provide parents with the do's and don'ts of nurturing
creative children is Dr.Yew Kam Keong (YKK),the founder President & CEO of Mindbloom
sdn. Bhd. Dr Yew is an international speaker, trainer and consultant in the field
of creativity. He has served as a resource person on creativity to the Young Presidents
Organization (YPO), an international organization of young CEOs, Intel Technology,
Texas Instruments, Arthur Andersen Business Consulting, ABN-AMRO Bank, Ernst &
Young, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Petronas, ICI Paints, etc.
His best-selling book: YOU ARE CREATIVE-LET YOUR CREATIVITY BLOOM book has received
the endorsements of students, teachers, parents, managers, professionals , CEOs
and other prominent personalities from all over the world.
YKK holds a B.Sc(Hons.) degree in Chemistry from Malaysia and a Ph.D. in Creativity
from U.K. He has attended many advanced management courses both in Malaysia and
overseas , including an Advanced Diploma in Business Administration from the New
Zealand Institute of Management. He also attended an intensive course on Environmental
Management at the Imperial College, London under the UNIDO Fellowship programme.
Dr Yew has his own website at:
www.mindbloom.net
Q1) How do you define Creativity?
A) There are probably as many definitions of creativity as there
are creativity books in the market. In my book ' You are Creative -Let Your Creativity
Bloom' , I prefer the simple definition of creativity as making a new connection
where none existed before. Perhaps some illustrations will help to make this definition
clearer. For example Christopher Sholes made a connection between the piano keys
and writing to invent the typewriter. Leo Gerstenzang invented cotton buds when
he noticed his wife wrapping cotton on toothpicks to clean their baby's ears.
In fact we make connections all the time. For example, we remember people by making
connections about the way they look or behave. We name things by connecting them
to things that we already know. The Central Processing Unit (CPU) of the computer
is very often compared to our brains. The list goes on and on.
Q2) Our brain consists of two parts - the
left and the right, of which one is responsible for logical thinking and the other
for creative thinking. Please elaborate.
A) Dr, Roger Sperry won the Nobel prize for his discovery of this
split brain function. An easy way to remember this is : The letter 'L' for the left
brain also denotes 'logical' thinking. The right brain is the emotional brain. The
left brain processes information analytically, logically and sequentially. It is
used for processing languages. The right brain is emotional, visual, artistic, musical,
intuitive and spiritual.
Most people are left brain dominant. The school system is more left-brain orientated
than right brain. Hence there is a need to introduce more right brain activities
after school hours. A well-adjusted person is one who uses both his or her left
and right brain. In other words we should all strive for whole-brain thinking.
Q3) Children are born creative but their creativity
potential decreases as they mature. Why does this happen and what can parents do
to prevent that from happening? Please explain.
A) All of us are born creative but as we grow older, our creativity
tends to diminish. There are many reasons for this. The most obvious one is the
need to conform to social norms and the fear of appearing foolish. The education
system also plays a large part in this. Though the school system was originally
designed for mass education to provide workers for the industrial era, this system
is still retained in the present-day K -(Knowledge) economy.
According to research carried out by Dr. George Land, the creativity of children
is 98% at 5 , 32% at 10, 10% at 15 and 2% at 25 years of age. Dr. Land said that
being uncreative is a learned process. We therefore need to unlearn and relearn.
As parents, we cannot teach our children to be more creative. We can only create
an environment for children where their creativity can flourish. Basically, this
involves activities where children can use their five senses of sight, hearing,
taste, feel and smell in their learning.
Parents should also encourage their children to ask questions, no matter how silly
they sound. If you could not provide an answer, record it somewhere visible and
look for the answer later. There is nothing more stifling to creativity than scolding
and discouraging children from asking questions.
Q4) Parents play an important role in nurturing
creativity in their children from young. Please provide different ways in which
parents can strengthen creativity in their toddlers, preschoolers, and teens.
A) Children learn through playing. It is important that we provide
playthings where children can add their imagination to them when they play. Empty
boxes and crayons are some of the best toys that can provide an outlet for the children's
inborn creativity. Construction sets, puzzles and improvised games too help to stimulate
the brains of children. Expensive toys which are electrically operated and all that
is required is to turn on a switch, do not provide mental stimulation for children.
Toddlers love to explore and put things in their mouths. Parents must provide a
safe environment for them to do so. Jelly with its bright colours, bouncy texture
and taste is good creative exploration for toddlers. Of course, playthings that
generate sound and music are also excellent. Mozart and baroque music for the 5th
month of pregnancy onwards and early childhood is highly recommended.
The multi-sensory approach to learning and stimulating creativity is the most effective
method known and this could be carried through to pre-school, teens and even to
their adult lives. This mode of learning is so much more fun, exciting, interesting
and effective.
For details on 'How to bring up creative children', you may refer to my website
at www.mindbloom.net.
Q5) Toddlers learn by asking questions. What
can parents do to encourage creative thinking skills in their little inquisitive
ones? At the same time, what should parents avoid doing, so as not to stifle creativity
in their toddlers during this critical period of development?
A) Parents can encourage creative thinking skills in their toddlers
by demonstrating the answers rather than just answering them. For example if a child
asks the question about the difference between hot and cold, the best way to answer
would be to ask them to dip their little fingers into cold and warm water followed
by hot water. Of course the water must not be too hot to hurt them but hot enough
for them to withdraw their fingers instinctively. Methods like these are much more
effective than just merely using words.
Though toddlers could be a little irritating to parents with their incessant questions,
parents should avoid scolding them for this. Instead, busy parents should try to
get their kids gainfully occupied with other mentally stimulating activities (see
answer to Q4 above) while they complete their work before playing with their kids
again.
Q6) Colours, words and pictures are commonly
used to help generate ideas by adults in brainstorming sessions. Can these techniques
be applied by parents to stimulate creative thinking in their children? If so, how?
A) Mixing colours provide hours of fun for children. Children could
wear comfortable raincoats to avoid messing up their clothes. Anyway, it is best
to use easily washable water-colours for children. An outdoor activity where children
could paint the colours of flowers, leaves, insects, cars and buildings would be
even more exciting.
Children have great fun acting out words and pictures. For example, for the word
and picture of 'cat', parents could ask their child to walk on all fours and purr
like a cat. For alphabets, an effective method is for parents to trace the letters
with their fingers on the back of their children so that they could feel the letters
written. Children could also be taught to act out the letters using their body.
For axample, the letter 'K' could be formed by the child holding out their two arms
accordingly.
Q7) Some TV programmes, computer games, books
and websites can be useful tools to help stimulate creative thinking in children.
Which ones would you recommend for this purpose?
A) The American Association of Pediatrics has recommended that
children of age two and below should not be exposed to TV and computers. The reason
for this is that at this stage of their development, children learn best and naturally
through a multi-sensory approach. TV and computers on the other hand offers only
2-dimensional learning.
It is best that children be only exposed to the multi-media as learning tools from
age 3 onwards. Children's educational channels like Sesame Street and Nickelodeon
are good. For older children, documentary channels like National Geographic and
Discovery channels are excellent.
You can get some recommendations on suitable websites from my website at
www.mindbloom.net.
Let me sound a word of caution here. Do not rely too much on the multi-media for
stimulating creativity. Nothing can replace the care and love of parents for their
children. Parents should allocate time to play and interact with their children
no matter how busy their work schedules are. Bringing up children is the greatest
joy of parenthood.
Q8) Simple breathing exercises can be used to
stimulate the brain to perform better. Please elaborate how this can be done, for
example, to help a child think better prior to an exam?
A) Close your left nostril with your left fore-finger, take a deep
breath, hold for a count of six and then breathe out from the right nostril. Feel
the air coming out from your right nostril with the palm of your right hand. Now,
reverse the process. Close your right nostril and breathe out rough your left and
feel the air with your left palm. Do you feel any difference?
The air from one nostril will always be stronger than the other. If the air from
the right nostril is stronger, it means that the left brain is dominant since the
left brain controls the right side of the body and the right brain controls the
left side of the body.
We could take advantage of this fact. For example, If your child is sitting for
a mathematics exam, tell your child to close his/her left nostril and breathe through
the right nostril. Do it for about 10 minutes or more to activate the left (logical)
brain. This could improve your child's logical thinking leading to better results.
Q9) Finally, please provide our viewers with some creative games to stimulate their
children's creative thinking.
A) Any game that involves thinking and left and right physical
coordination of the body is good for creativity. Some of these games include swimming,
gymnastics, dancing, juggling and basketball. Of this list, underwater swimming
and juggling were found to be particularly effective. Details of these two can be
found in my book: 'You are creative - let your creativity bloom.'