Toddlers see the world around them as one giant canvas. Have you ever watched a 2 year old create a castle with common household items. Preschoolers make tents from couch cushions and chairs. Youngsters create forts from fallen limbs and trees. Maybe you were caught drawing on a wall or table when you were little. I created all these and more. I have a fantastic imagination and use it everyday. I still love to play pretend with the little ones in my family. Some parents yell at their children when they play with their food. I know I heard the phrase, "food is to eat, not to play with", most of my childhood. I encouraged my daughter to make art with her mashed potatoes and peas. She made great works of art with her dinner every night and rarely ate most of it. She did not starve, but blossomed. You can not stifle the artist in a child, yet our schools all around the country are doing just that. Art is not needed. They say it is an unnecessary expense.
The mind must wander, relax, and explore its creative side. The greatest inventors have nothing if they do not have their imagination! The laptop I am writing on, the chair I sit in, the car I drive, would not exist with out the arts. How can we let this happen to our youth. How can we remove something so basic as the right to dream. Our society is already in so much trouble because of the way we force singular one sided learning down our childrens throats. We no longer encourage self exploration, self play, exploratory learning. There are a few schools through out the country that encourage it such as Waldorf schools, or Democratic schools, but for the most part in school art programs are the only opportunity our children have.
So many children are lost when they go off to college. For the first time in their lives they are asked to think for themselves, and it is a terrifying experience. Our youth are lost and afraid that they will get it wrong because no one is telling them what to do or say or feel. How awful is it that at 18 years of age we finally allow them to think, and then we are shocked when they fail.
I home schooled my daughter for a few years when she was little. I was constantly and truly amazed and blown away with what she would come up with on her own. When she was about 7 years old I gave her her first real project. All I said was to pick an animal, research it and present it to me. For days she would not let me in the office while she prepared. I will admit I really thought she was playing around but I let it go because she was so full of excitement. 4 days later she sat me down in the living room with a full blown power point presentation on Panda bears! I did not even know she new what power point was, and yet here was this tiny little 7 year old beaming with pride over what she had done all by herself! I was ecstatic and blown away with the work she had put into it. This is why I home schooled, for that moment, that look of pride. All children should have that moment. All children should be encouraged to think for themselves. We are responsible for making sure they continue to get that opportunity. Explore your city. What kind of art programs are available to you. Do you even have any art gallerys, theaters, or workshops to explore? Maybe you come from a big city where art is the norm, then help another country. There are all kinds of programs always looking for donations for after school programs, youth groups and to send to 3rd world countries.
Take time to do something artistic every week. Create a gourmet meal just for yourself, color in a childs coloring book, write a story,make a bird house. The what does not matter nearly as much as the why. Do it for your productivity, your creativity, and for your soul. I promise you will feel so much better about everything in life if you take time to free your mind and play!
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