We are the dreamers of dreams
I’m reading The Power of Play: How Spontaneous, Imaginative Activities Lead to Happier, Healthier Children by David Elkind. I think I checked it out hoping for guidance to easily move them away from tv and computer games.
As I read it I think about Daniel and Lindy and how they endlessly play with Molly, providing her such an enriched environment. That girl will have a powerful imagination. And if she’s not spoiled beyond belief, she will be one of those happy, well-adjusted people you meet every now and again: one of those people we all wish we could be!
Of course the beginning of the book is all doom and gloom about the sad state of toys and kids’ activities today. Children aren’t exercising their bodies enough, we all hear about it. But also, their brains are atrophying, decaying instead of growing in the glare of the digital age.
In one anecdote of evidence, a class of kindergartners didn’t know what imagination was nor how to use it!
Aaaaaaaaaah! I worry, I fret. Do my children have imaginations? Do they know how to pretend? All they do is play fighting games, I swear. I think back over the last few days of play and all I recall is the whining: “I’m bored,” “Can I watch TV?,” “Can I play on the computer?” and the endless karate moves they practice on each other for hours.
So tonight I’m reading them a great book we got from the library, The Wildest Brother by Cornelia Funke (translated from German) where little brother Ben talks about protecting his big sister from scary monsters, weekly burglars, foxes, wolves and bears. (Uncle Ben, Henry and Claire, a copy of this is coming your way! 
And what do they do? They jump up at every monster and demonstrate how the monster moves and what the monster sounds like. They moan, roar and growl. They limp, bend and leap. They make up their own monsters, not even mentioned in the book.
Phew! I guess they have imaginations after all.
There is no
Life I know
To compare with
Pure imagination
Living there
You’ll be free
If you truly wish to be
If you want to view paradise
Simply look around and view it
Anything you want to, do it
Wanta change the world?
There’s nothing
To it
We learned quickly not to tell my grandmother ‘I’m bored’ when we stayed with her in the summers, because that was a surefire way to get assigned a bunch of chores to stave off the boredom — anything from taking out the garbage to weeding the entire back driveway.
That is an AWESOME idea. It is now added to my Tips and Trciks in my brain permanently.
Your kids rock. You are doing a great job. They are very creative and their minds are fireworks of ideas. They are well-rounded and have good experiences, which I think is a one of the most important factors for a developing a creative mind. In my opinion, being creative is a holistic feeling of self-expression. In my experience, all of the factors, from seeing my brother’s art, to TV, music, to writing, to interacting with non-creative people, all helped to develop my own sense of creativity. Practice is also helpful (but only part of it). For every “imagination” story Molly tells, I tell her 20. For every 20 that I tell, I have heard/read 100 from others. Anyway, sometimes it is just the kids that make their own path. All we can do is scream and yell to get back before dark.