Creatively Creating *Find out what they like and are learning
Gracie and I would often draw together and I loved seeing her joy of painting, and so I had an idea that before getting dressed I would give her the opportunity to paint after breakfast in her nappy only so she would fear no fear about messing up her clothes. She loved it!
It was great to see how she would just make marks and splosh paint around! She delighted in playing with mark making and telling me what she had painted and this enabled me to see what she liked and had been learning. There were a number of times she painted her Mummy. Which was so cute. It was a sad thing to see whenever Gracie painted her Mum and wanted to give her painting of her Mum expressing her love for her Mum, she would simply be rebuked. It was heart wrenching to see.
Whenever Gracie gave her Mum her painting of her Mum she would tell Gracie “Gracie will you stop mithering me, I’m trying to watch This Morning on catch up” sometimes my sister would add “When you’re a teenager, your Dad can look after you” and little Gracie would always look like her soul had been hurt, it was hard, I would often hug Gracie and comfort her. Both of us were baffled by her Mum choosing not to pause the tv and see her daughter’s paintings made with such love for her Mum. It was a very tough atmosphere. What I say by sharing this is be welcoming to your children always.
Another idea to encourage creativity is also the creative tidy up! Yup! Cleaning can be seen as a playful part of play. Gracie would love playing with her toys and what was most enjoyable was post play and before her Mummy came home after a busy work day before teatime we would decide what toys Gracie wanted to put away tidily, I showed her how to tidy up and how important it is to select what three items she wished to leave out to play with before her Mummy came home. And her Mummy was always pleased to see a nice tidy home when she came back from work and tea in the oven for us all to sit around the table to eat.
Clearly creativity is not solely a fun thing to do it is something a child’s growth to communicate well is important for them and as much a cause of pride for an Aunties Uncles, Grandies and Mummies and Daddies if only we would recognise every time they share their creative output.
How do you feel about creative industries? Because next time you will find that I will be enabling you to see how valuable creativity is to our abundant world. And children need to express themselves in ways we possibly cannot remember; and even as adults many of our things are relating to the creative industries.