Write Stuff

Font of Creativity

I live with four kids. In my home creativity is not in short supply.

I just got back from Tee ball practice the the youngest. On the way home I was regaled with a host of stories of all the fantastic things that happened at practice—from the storm that knocked over the bleachers, to the awesome leaping catch he made in the outfield. Nevermind that I was at practice, not five feet behind my little man, and that I knew every one of his stories were pure fiction.

Most children I’ve known have naturally had a fantastical imagination. Unfortunately adults are trained, far too well, to drill the creativity from them. I can already see it happening with the oldest two.

As they prepare for middle school lessons turn away from flight of fancy and toward spelling, punctuation and structure. They’ve already started down the dull road I remember so well, where each stone is a staid, tedious essay. Parents are just as culpable. I’ve seen parents severely, and publicly discipline their children for lying,when the child was clearly telling tales for everyone’s entertainment.

Adults are so good at drilling the wild imagination out of kids in preparing them to be adults, that later in life we have to retrain them to be creative. How often have you had to sit down an eight-year-old and help them brainstorm, or think outside the box?

Don’t get me wrong. I understand the benefits of teaching good writing techniques to young writers. I am grateful that I learned how to write a persuasive essay. I have benefited from the ability to write a solid, concise business letter. But there’s no reason that our English teachers can’t focus more on the creative aspects of writing. Fiction still needs good paragraph structure. Poetry needs a rich vocabulary so much more than any essay I’ve ever written.

In the past year I have strove to branch out my creative soul into new directions—music, and heraldic art—and I’ve watched other adults struggle with the same goal.

So one of my goals, with my four little ones, is to make sure that when they are adults, they can still create stories of aliens, and sudden storms. That comic book fantasies and novel dreams still pepper their daily lives. I’ve fought too long and too hard with writer’s block. Maybe I can help their font never run dry.