Even though I'm making this post as an entry for a giveaway from Cotton Babies, it's something I've been meaning to discuss for a while. Creativity is very important to me, and I want to see the offspring blossom into an imaginative child. At eleven months (four days shy, how time flies!) it's impossible to know what talents she will have, so right now it is all about creating a mindset.
Right now, she loves to dance, so we dance every day! Whether it is just singing silly songs or playing CDs to see what she likes, there is a lot of music in our house these days. She loves it all, from mommy singing the alphabet to rocking guitars! She definitely has her own moves and I don't know where she got them, so she is already getting creative there.
I think making independent choices is very important to creativity, too, so the offspring helps choose her clothes almost every day. For now her choices are limited, but she gets to pick from two or three options. She is showing preferences towards bright colors and bold patterns, which of course I love. It's great to dress her and know that she likes her clothes, and thinks she looks good.
Most of all I try to get her to use her imagination every day. She is welcome to play with some of my plastic bowls, and she takes the offer gladly. Some days they are drums, other days they are baskets for collecting smaller toys, and still other days they are hats. And some days, they are all three! I want to keep buying her toys that will encourage her imagination instead of just flashing lights at her. She does love gadgets like a proper little nerd baby, but there is so much more to life. For her upcoming birthday she is getting Megabloks so that she can build whatever she can dream up. For Christmas I plan to get toy food so that she can pretend to be a gourmet chef, or run a grocery store, or be a mommy cooking for her baby doll. And when she is old enough to hold them she'll get crayons and I will draw with her every day, because even at 23 I think crayons are one of the best things on Earth.
Creativity is a muscle, and if you don't nurture it, you can atrophy. I'll keep exercising the offspring's creativity every day!
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I think that creativity and imagination are not under-rated as many in today's society think they are. Having both is what made this country so great, in my humble opinion!
ReplyDeleteExcellent post!
Giving her the opportunity to make her own choices is vital, IMHO. She will have to face the fact, as she does already, that in some matters one doesn't get a choice, but she also needs that self-direction and confidence that making choices brings. Those are also important aspects of creativity. Keep doing what you are doing!
ReplyDeleteI let Mari-Alis pick things too. All the time. When we eat out, I ask her to show me what she wants off the menu and I order it. Doesn't matter if it's liver and anchovies (ok they'd never put that on a kid's menu but hey) I get it for her. I love letting her pick and she seems to enjoy it too. It's funny because her favorite food is pasta and even cartoons of pasta will normally be her choice <3
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