Creativity Builds Character

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Art, bullying, creativity, family, Insparation, kids, parenting, positivity, School, support

As summer draws to an end and my oldest is about to start school for the first time I have had a good deal to think about. The fact that things have moved along so far already and I know things are about to hit light speed. I just hope that I am ready if things ever hit ludicrous and hope that we never go plaid. Over all these events are giving me joint feelings of happiness and excitement alongside terror and nervous-nous. As a parent, I find that this is quite common and we only get occasional breaks from this. Of course these breaks are less and less frequent with the more kids you have.

With the approaching major milestone in my son’s life I find myself thinking about my youth. Every time this happens I drift off in to nostalgia and most of the time it is enjoyable. Most of all I have been thinking about my past experience with what my kids about to enter into. Kids now-a-days are pretty mean, I think they have always been mean but now its in a way I do not completely understand. I was teased endlessly as a child due to the fact that I was weird and was always daydreaming. Eventually I fond ways to cope with it but I can only imagine what it was like for my mom. If I ever came home sad because I didn’t have a lot of friends, or because kids called me names. Just the thought of other kids doing that to mine makes me tear up. As for me, I was lucky to have a good mother and eventually tough skin. Add that up with some imagination and I am pretty laid-back. My goal is to pass this along to my kids.

We have always tried to teach the basics like forgiveness and karma as I think that this sort of knowledge is required to make it through life. We also try to teach them to love others no matter a person’s differences. So far we have encountered race and disability and I am happy to say that my two boys are shining examples of acceptance. Sure, we get blunt questions that they ask very loudly in public. The ones that despite the innocent nature, cause me to turn many shades of red. But they are curious and that is a good sign. It gives us an opportunity to properly explain things to them. All of this gives them tools to treat others like they should.

When it comes to how they get treated, that is out of my control. This is the fact that scares the hell out of me. The only thing we can do as parents is be there for them and help teach them healthy ways to cope with the frustrations they encounter through life. It is my belief that, as parents, this is a task we carry to our last breath. I think that this is where encouraging creativity and imagination comes into play. Confidence is another factor but that is a tricky one, you can give them confidence but not by inflating ego. It needs to be fed through helping them better themselves. This can also be done through expressing creativity.

I have no idea what my kids will find for their creative niche in life. I think that it comes in many forms; art, writing, dance athletics all have special forms of using creativity. It will be up to them to find it and I will help them as best as I can. The least I can do is support them endlessly and help point them in a positive direction.