The connection between creativity and resilience.

Creativity and Resilience.

 

I’ve recently had some time on holidays and whilst children were playing, I was thinking about the connection between creativity and resilience.  There definitely has to be a connection between encouraging creativity in young children and at the same time encouraging resilience.  Children are very influenced by feedback given to them by adults, everyone should know this. So if being creative means thinking outside the box and being able to look at options from all angles and problem solving, then this must also affect a child’s ability to face challenges in life with a stronger ability to not crumble under tough times, to think about the pros and cons of options and decide to resolve to follow a path that is difficult, but must be taken in order to achieve the desired outcome.  I’m sure all the inventors of this world were in-tune with this idea, they wouldn’t have given up when they didn’t first find the answer. This shows their ability to never give up in the face of failure, but to continue for the greater good of all and to feel a sense of achievement for themselves.  Therefore, I feel the best way to create more resilient children in our unpredictable environment, whether man-made or natural disasters or more personal crises, then we have to encourage creative thinking in the early years and value children’s effort and ability to solve their own problems with our guidance, but not to take over.  Allow their natural ability to problem-solve evolve by giving them time to think, experiment and come up with their own conclusions with our open-ended questioning to encourage confident, courageous adults.  With adults and children looking at failure  as a setback, but not an end to a dream.

KidscreativeAshdown