I consider myself a creative person. My wife and I have been thinking about how exactly we became creative people because we want to pass creativity down to our child.
Two books that have been really helpful in constructing a "Turner Manifesto for Creativity" have been The Rhythom of Family and The Creative Family by Amanda Blake Soule. Both of these books share how one family on a farm in Maine has woven creativity into every aspect of their lives, from making their own cough drops to sewing knapsacks for hikes.
In The Creative Family, Blake Soule lays down the foundation of her creative ethos. Children are to be engaged in creativity from the time they are born. What's more, she believes that children are naturally creative, and that part of parenting, for many of us, is re-learning the creativity we have lost when we became adults. That means making paper dolls, doodling for no reason and taking time to just be zany ideas and actions that we have been told are not "adult." There is a sub-conscious voice in adaults' heads that says "you shouldn't be playing with toy trains" or "it's weird for you to pretend you're a pirate" or "you look like an idiot dancing like Snoopy." This kind of thinking is simply not true, and Blake Soule suggests that if adults feel that they have outgrown creativity they should look to their children as teachers.
In The Rhythm of Family, Blake Soule takes creativity and places it into the rhythm of the seasons. What are creative things the family can do year round, from spring to winter? She includes relevant crafts and creative ideas for each month of the year, matched with reflections from her and her husband on weaving creativity into the changing seasons with their family. The ideas included are things like making an album to remember the year's garden harvest, walking barefoot in mud and easy sewing activities for children, like felting.
I encourage you, whether you have children or not, to pick these books up from your local bookstore or library and peruse them. Don't be afraid to be creative like a child!
Thomas Turner is the Senior Editor & Publisher of GENERATE Magazine and an adjunct lecturer at Nyack College.
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