Saturday, January 13, 2007

Lessons From My Daughter - Creativity

A while back, I was teaching our two year old daughter to count. When I held up one finger, she said "one." When I held up two fingers, she said "rabbit." When I held up three fingers, she said" W." Prior to taking a creativity course last year, I would have immediately said, "Wrong, this is 'two' and this is 'three'." Instead, I said, "Yes, that's also right," and we continued to learn the numbers.

Of course, to survive in the this world, she will need to recognize what is "two" and "three" because they are the "right" answers. (After all, who would understand rabbit million dollars:-) However, being creative and innovative will also be important skills for her future. The thought caused me to reflect that there are times to be right, and there are times to be creative. I definitely want the engineering calcuations for the structural strength of my house to be "right," - i.e. use "two" instead of "rabbit." However, if I am trying to invent something, perhaps "rabbit" is the better answer than "two."

Past childhood, right answers become the norm and the expectation. My daughter reminded me that creativity comes from seeing the same thing everyone sees but in a different way. Having the skill for creativity is important. Creativity can lead to new ideas and new ideas can lead to invention.

Counting now has new meaning for me. From now on, it's "one, rabbit, W ...."

For more Reflections and Musings, check back every Saturday for a new segment.

Photo Credit: morgueFile.com, Nanette Bartet
This is not financial or parenting advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2007 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

That is a great story, your daughter sounds adorable.

Creativity is a pretty unique thing to have these days. It seems that people focus on being right more often than encouraging creativity.

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Unknown said...

What a wonderful story.
My 3yo daughter has such a wild imagination, that sometimes my husband and I wonder if we should keep encouraging it, because she's always coming up with these incredible stories. The truth is I agree, I wouldn't want her to lose her creativity. She'd make a great story teller when she gets older.
Your daughter sounds so cute.
Here via the CFL.

Stephanie Appleton said...

Keeping creativity is challenging. (for us & them) Good for you appreciating hers!

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