Rob is a husband, father, blogger, type A creative, aspiring entrepreneur and outside-of-the-box thinker. He works on Dave Ramsey’s team and loves seeing people doing what they are created by to do.
American teenagers are downright busy. Between school, homework, sports, music lessons, church, etc., there isn’t much time for them to do anything else.
I often wonder why we allow and many times even push our kids to be so busy. We need to ask ourselves if this busy-ness is adding or taking away value from their lives. In most cases I would argue that it is doing more harm than good.
Creativity is probably one of the biggest casualties of busy-ness in American teenagers. One of the keys to being creative is having time and space for our minds to wander. As a parent, you need to help your student to carve out this time and space. Here are a few reasons that parents should encourage their teen to be creative:
5 Reasons To Encourage Your Teen To Be Creative
1. Creativity leads to self-awareness. The teenage years are when we really start to explore what we enjoy, what we are good at and the type of people with whom we connect. There are many adults that struggle to know who they are and there is a pretty good chance that they were never encouraged to be creative. There’s a good chance they were taught to do whatever they could to fit in and not be noticed.
2. Creativity builds self-esteem. Creating art (whatever form it may take) is one of the most gratifying things you can do. For a young person, knowing that you have created something beautiful, exponentially increases your feelings of self-worth.
3. Creativity provides an outlet for teens to express themselves. Teenagers go through a lot of changes- biologically, physically and emotionally. Most of them have never had to navigate through the plethora of feelings that accompany all of these changes. Creating is a great outlet for all of these feelings.
4. Being creative with your teen strengthens your relationship. My dad and I have a great relationship. We are both musicians and some of my best memories with him are of us playing music together. Working together can strengthen any relationship, even with your kids.
5. Creatives are shaping the future more than any other group. This generation has access to more tools and more information than any other generation in history. The only thing they are lacking is the encouragement to step out and use the information and the tools that they have available to them. If you encourage your teen to be creative, they might just become the next Mark Zuckerberg.
Do you encourage your teen to be creative? Why or why not?
All I can say is, “Amen!”
As someone who has made creativity their life’s work, and as a college educator, I see the value of creativity. During the teen years, the ability to express yourself in a safe way is so important and creating art allows one to do this. Many issues have been revealed to me through student projects, usually not intentionally. The format allowed the students to get frustration, anger, and other feelings out of their heads and onto paper. That release, that sharing, is like therapy.
I encourage everyone to engage in creative therapy.
thanks Leslie! I completely agree with you. Creativity is a healthy outlet for pain and hurt. Thanks for bringing your voice to the conversation! jeremy
Hi, I am a parent coach and I agree wholeheartedly. In my practice, I focus primarily on the parents, their attitudes and behaviors, and how they influence the dynamic with their families.
Many adults struggle to encourage true creativity because they have lost touch with their own creative potential.
There is a TED video by David Kelly that addresses this issue beautifully. Here’s the link: http://www.ted.com/talks/david_kelley_how_to_build_your_creative_confidence.html
Thank you raising an important point.
Jane Cabrera
The Parent Success Coach
https://www.facebook.com/theparentsuccesscoachcommunity
thanks Jane! Great to connect with you. I will check out the TED video.