As parents, we always want our kids to be ‘creative’. There is nothing wrong with his desire, but we need to understand what creativity is. Creativity is not just about splashing paints on a canvas or writing fictional stories; it is also about problem-solving skills, academic success, and inventive thinking capacity. In simple words, creativity is all about thinking and doing “out of the box.”
Every child is creative in their own way, we just need to bring out that creativity. Even if a kid is not born with creativity, you can easily develop the trait in them. Yes, we need you can encourage and foster that hidden creativity in your teens and children. Now you must be wondering, “How?”, right? Don’t worry; as always, we have got you covered!
In this post, we are going to share 10 ways how you can foster and boost creativity in your children. Now without making you wait any further, let’s dive in!
The best way to foster creativity in your teens is to motivate them by setting examples. For example, maybe you had a passion for writing or painting in the past and you had to bury it because of life commitments. Or perhaps you loved baking, poetry, or home furnishing? Yes, bring those buried passions out! Start doing what you used to love in front your teens and lead them by an example. This way, you will set an example for your teens and they will also feel a boost of motivation to pursue their passions!
If you ever feel like your teens are asking way too many questions, don’t stop them! Instead, encourage them to ask more questions and answer each one of them. Questions encourage curiosity, and curiosity encourages creative thinking. For example, you can randomly start discussing a random movie with them, and give them a chance to ask possible questions. This will allow them to think critically and creatively. Moreover, allow and encourage them to express their opinions, views, and beliefs through these questions.
If your teens want to try and explore something new, let them! Let them take risks, make mistakes, and learn from their mistakes. If they want to learn a new musical instrument, let them. If they want to take part in a weird activity or contest, let them. Allowing them to leave their comfort zone and explore the harsh world is how you can encourage creativity in them. They need to experience newer things to be creative. So, always encourage them to explore and discover life as much as they can!
Every person is going to make some mistakes and fail in life, and so does your teen. But that doesn’t mean they should lose hope and stop trying after failing, right? You should always make your teens feel like it is okay to make mistakes and face failures at some point. These mistakes and failures make you learn and do better. Also, encourage them to keep trying for something they are passionate about. The more they keep trying, the more they will think, and this way, they will become creative in a lot of ways.
Trust me; nothing is more inspiring and motivating than nature. Just looking at the pristine nature makes you critically think about how these things came into being. Therefore, you need to frequently take your teens out and help them discover nature. Take them to the beach or a forest or a park for long walks. This will allow them to look at and admire everything beautiful; the waves, the flowers, the trees, the sea, the artwork on an ancient tree, etc. Looking at all these things will give a boost to your inner creativity and artistic nature.
As a parent, you should frequently take your teens to museums, galleries, and other historical places. Doing this will give the teens a chance to think critically, ask questions about the things that happened, and research them. Comprehending and thinking about history gives teens a chance to be creatively inspired. After that, who knows maybe your teen writes their own book on some great historical occurrence.
Doesn’t matter if it is fictional, non-fictional, or crime thrillers; stories are always a great way to boost and encourage creativity in a teen’s mind. Therefore, try to develop a love for stories in your teen’s heart and mind. Reading stories can help them see different perspectives of the world and life, put themselves into someone else’s shoes, and imagine and visualize the scenarios they are reading about. All these things we mentioned are what we call creativity. You can encourage them to read stories with the help of a lot of resources; books, magazines, blogs, comics, and podcasts.
Always take some time out and plan family game nights with your teens at weekends. Several mind-stimulating games can boost the creativity, imagination, and thinking capacities of your kids. You can opt for board games like monopoly, scrabble, and ludo to encourage decision-making skills. Other than that, you can play charades with your teens to boost their imaginative skills.
As we have briefly mentioned at the start, creativity is not just about arts & crafts. It is a very broad term and includes everything that requires critical and creative thinking. Also, it means how far your imagination can go, how efficient your brainstorming is, and how fast you can come up with solutions to problems. Therefore, don’t limit them to a forced passion. Instead, give them a chance to find out what they are interested in, and let them pursue it.
Last but not least, always praise your teens for even the little accomplishments they achieve. If they try to do something creative and it didn’t turn out well; still, praise and appreciate them for at least trying! Your praise and appreciation will encourage them to keep trying and be more creative in their academic and personal lives.
Everyone is creative; some people just need a kickstart for their creativity. I hope that our 10 ways to foster creativity in your teens helped you. All you need to do is encourage your teens, help them find their passion, and foster their creativity. Do you know what is the best part? Maybe you will find some of your creativity during the process!
