If I have observed one thing after a decade of having a school-age child. It’s that arts-motivated kids perform better in school. Sure, my daughter comes from an artsy family already, but she’s not an extension of us. She is uniquely herself, and her exposure to a wide variety of arts helps her discover her passions and personhood.
Happier Kids
The more types of arts my daughter engages in, the happier and more motivated a student she becomes. But don’t take my word for it. Check out the messages broadcasted by Sir Ken Robinson, author of the book, Finding Your Element: How To Discover Your Talents & Passions and Transform Your Life. A creativity and education expert, Robinson says education should teach children to become creative thinkers rather than merely good workers.
In addition to Robinson’s theory that a child’s exposure to arts leads them to finding future work in their element, remember something else. The greatest challenges faced by civilization are going to be solved by our kids one day. Do we want them to behave like well-behaved worker bees or as the creative thinkers, problem-solvers and innovators they were born to be?
Raising Well-Rounded Kids
Participation in the arts is just as important to raising well-rounded children as participation in academics and athletics. The arts awaken personal power in children by helping them discover their talents and passions organically.
I know this is true because my daughter loves to sing, dance, act and draw already. Recently, she’s also started reading Shakespeare, watching historical documentaries, playing the piano and taking hip-hop classes.
I am not bragging. But I am keenly aware that I may have been inadvertently putting imagined limits on just how creative my daughter could become.
Now, thanks to her example, I am beginning to think that there isn’t anything she can’t do. And isn’t that exactly what I want her to believe?
Why do we put limits on our kids’ creative impulses when creative activities clearly benefit real-world performance? My daughter has the rest of her life to discover and pursue creative activities that light her up from the inside.
My job is to make sure she never runs out of opportunities to practice being her multi-faceted self. She can sift and sort through what she likes best and doesn’t prefer for herself. She doesn’t need me for that, except to remind her that how she spends her time in life is her choice.
Are You Capping Creativity?
When I leave this world some day, I want to depart knowing I exposed my daughter to as much personal enjoyment of life as I could. And the arts will have played a leading role in this endeavor. I don’t want my daughter’s focus in life to be on survival or drudgery.
I want her life to be a celebration of being herself. And, in order to do this, she has to explore and assess her talents and abilities in her own ways.
If you deny your kids access to the arts — or don’t see them as valuable for them — hold on. I hope you are planning to stick around for a few more decades to witness for yourself the important role creativity will play in the evolution of our future.
If you are — as I was — inadvertently capping the amount of creative activities your kids participate in, I hope you will stop. Instead of cutting the arts out of your kids’ schedules, we need to to allow access. They can set the bar to a level that feels right from there.
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