When I was a child there were no computers, TV programs, DVDs, or other electronic gadgets. After we did our chores, we spent time outside playing with friends, riding our bicycles, or finding creative ways to play. Now both inside and outside creative playtime seems to have disappeared. Many parents and childcare people use electronic gadgets as babysitters and even children as young as two watch television. The American Academy of Pediatrics strongly states that this is not healthy for little children, particularly those under two years of age. A study done by Kaiser found the appalling statistic that 26% of two-year-olds have a TV in their bedroom! I cannot imagine what parents must be thinking to allow a little child or any child to have a television in his or her bedroom. My children watched cartoons on Saturday morning and Friday night they chose what they wanted for dinner and we watched TV programs together. TV has never been a big part of their lives. When children are not allowed to play outside and devise their own activities, they lose the ability to be creative. Steve Jobs spent time as a teenager tinkering with pieces in his adopted father's garage. I wonder what would have happed to the computer world if he had not been allowed to be creative?
Now children seem to have few or no chores, don't play outside, and those from families with money are scheduled for multiple lessons, such as tennis, karate, swimming, and ballet. Bobbi Conner, who was formerly the wonderful creator of the Parents' Journal, has a new book entitled The Giant Book of Creativity for Kids. It is packed with great ideas to help kids be creative. Art, dance, theater and music are good ways for children to express themselves, but not if they are expected to follow standards set by a demanding teacher. Childhood should be a time to dream, to smell the roses and look at the clouds in the sky.
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