Seven reasons to be creative as a parent

by Lucy Moore | 14 September 2020

To celebrate National Live Creative Day, we look at seven reasons it’s important to be creative with your little ones.

Image courtesy of Pixabay

It encourages them to be creative too: If they see you being creative, they will copy your behaviours. If you love to paint pictures, to write stories or make music, they will gravitate towards the same things because they will see it as the norm in your home- so make it that way.

It teaches them that there is more to life than TV: If you reach for a notepad or sketchbook before you turn on the TV they will follow in your footsteps because you set the example and the ethos in your home so try and make the TV the last resort.

Creative play time is better: Children thrive on interaction with their parents more than interaction with a toy, so if you can be creative with games that don’t involve toys they will get far more out of the time spent with you than with a plastic object that flashes or makes noise.

It encourages their imagination: If you promote play that involves using their imagination- they will have to get creative with storylines, characters and actions just the same as you will. It’s a creative team effort and one that will pay off if you all get into the spirit of things.

Creativity provides so many valuable life skills: To be creative, you need to be a good planner, have patience, a keen eye, a keen ear, imagination and passion- to name a few-all of which are hugely important to nurture in your children for their future.

Creative children can play on their own: It’s vital that children play with other children to develop the necessary social skills, but it’s also important that children can entertain themselves when there are only adults around. If you demonstrate that quiet time for creative activities is just as important as noisy ones- they will be able to adapt to either situation.

Creativity can be linked to reading widely: If you instil the importance of reading in your children from a young age, this might help them to be more creative individuals as they get older. Reading ensures they will be consistently exposed to new ideas, pictures and writing, all of which have the ability to spark something inside of them to do it themselves.