Alike: Short Film To Reflect On The Importance Of Creativity In Children
Alike is a very simple, tender, short-lived short film. In less than 8 minutes it shows in a graphic and lively way how we manage to make the creative ability of our children disappear day after day, gesture after gesture, word after word, absence after absence.
This story offers a great example of how we can make our children survive the trauma called “formal education”. Cards on cards, corrections, negative judgments … All this is useful, but in the right measure, in the sense that we must be careful not to undermine the creative capacity of children.
“This is the right answer”, “This is not logical”, “Making mistakes is a cause of shame”, “Playing is a waste of time” … These are ideas that, more or less explicitly, emerge in the dialogue with us same since we were children, when they taught us to rewrite our creative responses because they were not suitable for a mega-structured system.
Educating children not to do things quickly, not to impose limits on themselves and not to get rid of the ideas they have in mind without first analyzing them is ideal for a training in the name of creativity.
The relationship with a child must be made of laughter, adventures and madness. We have to talk to him about absurd things, about investigation, about exploring imaginary worlds, about creating figures with shadows, about carrying out scientific experiments, about telling stories in reverse …
We must help him manage the lights and shadows of his mind, the voices of his emotions and the melody of his thoughts. We cannot clip his wings, otherwise his mind could not fly freely and this is the base of the pyramid of his growth.
Each child is special and flies in his own way, lighting the way he flies with his qualities. From this point of view, we are all geniuses. However, as Einstein would say, “if you judge a fish by its ability to climb trees, he will spend his entire life believing himself stupid.”
Tips to encourage creativity in children
As we can see in Alike , people lose color as they get into routine, overwork, and the structured world. For these reasons, we must take into account that children need 7 things to develop their creativity:
1. Wrong
One of the biggest obstacles to creativity is the fear of making mistakes. If as children we are able to conceptualize error as a starting point for growth, fear will not exist or, at least, it would not be so intense as to limit our thoughts.
2. Getting bored and frustrated
A child who is bored and frustrated with boredom can find the greatest source of imagination in the world. It’s amazing how suddenly connections are made and creativity emerges.
3. Thinking extravagantly
Freedom of expression begins with freedom of thought. Children are happy to be able to say what they think and laugh out loud in the face of nonsense. And what’s more rewarding than a good laugh? Recall that the best education begins with example, so it would be great to have fun conversations with children frequently.
4. Work in a team
As an African saying goes, if you are traveling alone, you may arrive earlier, but if you are traveling with friends, you will go further. Children love to share moments with other children and with adults, so teamwork is a good idea. In this way, children will learn to feed on others and will know that they are themselves a source of knowledge.
5. Experiment
With food, with games, with a stone … Despite what we think as adults, anything you need to experiment and create new worlds ! For this the best material gift for a child is a cardboard box and a stick. The simplest things are the ones that are worth the most.
6. Talk about real and imaginary problems
Talking about real and imaginary problems will help children create solutions and reinvent themselves. There is nothing that thrills a child more than having a great idea and realizing that he has the power to control the world in his hands.
7. PLAY !!!
The seventh tip, the basis of the points discussed above, is that children need to PLAY. At all times and with everything they find. Only then will they learn that there are numerous games to play and that each game requires them to use their imagination. The game is a beautiful tool that will help children to voice their emotions and make them architects of their life.
