Creativity Thursday: 9 Ways to Encourage Your Child’s Creativity

Creativity is very subjective to the person seeing, hearing or feeling the art that has been created.  There are plenty of critics along the path to try and derail the creative and bring you down.

However, there is one person that should be your greatest cheerleader.  That person should be your parents.

So what can a parent do to support their child?

  1. Put them in classes—help your child to learn, improve and develop their skills and ability    dance class
  2. Give constructive criticism in a loving way—never put your child down.  Find a loving way to encourage them and offer advice.  One great approach to use is the orea method—start with something positive, mention what needs to be improved, end with something positive.
  3. Find a mentor—help your child find a mentor to encourage them, guide them and help them continue to develop their skills
  4. Set up their own space to work—set up a special place just for this child to create
  5. Give time each day {or week} to work on their craft—allow time each day {or week if you can’t each day} to allow your child to work on their art.  Even if it is just for thirty minutes or an hour each day, you will be able to determine the interest and dedication your child has towards his/her craft.
  6. Help them find a critique group—a critique group helps you to grow and improve your craft      unconditional love
  7. Love them unconditionally—love your child unconditionally for who s/he is and support their dreams.  Even when being realistic about a job and employment, you can support your child’s dreams in their spare time.
  8. Give emotional support—give your child emotional support.  Sometimes that is a listening ear, a hug or even bragging to others about your child’s abilities and interest.
  9. Set limits on how long you will support them financially—this is mainly for adult children, dependent on their parents and longing to pursue a career in their area of interest.  Regardless of being an actress, writer or dancer, let them know up front at the beginning what {if any} support you can offer and the cutoff date.  This way the child knows to either find work in that field or a job to tie them over in the meantime.

What have you done to support your child?

 

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9 Ways to Encourage Your Child’s Creativity