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Learn: Embrace Imperfection

As part of a series of recent posts on fostering creativity in children, I outlined the requirements of an environment that nurtures creativity: 

• A safe space
• True creative freedom
• Respect

In order to maintain an environment that encourages creativity, in order to maintain awareness of our responses to creativity, we must embrace imperfection: because mistakes play a vital role in creative process. 

 

The Problem with Perfection

In researching creativity in children, I learned how expectations can stunt creativity. Journalist Alina Tugend, in her book Better by Mistake, describes how perfectionism can stand as an obstacle. Problems with perfectionism arise when: 

• a mistake is perceived as a crisis
• a project sits incomplete for fear of failure or because it's not "perfect"
• self-improvement gets trampled along a path toward a must-have outcome 
• self-improvement gets stifled because goals don’t extend beyond perceived abilities
• unrealistically high goals lead to a sense of failure instead of building skills and confidence 

 

The Value of Imperfection

Embracing imperfection doesn't mean lowering our standards. Embracing imperfection means recognizing that imperfection happens and appreciating the value imperfection offers. 

• Mistakes serve to help children develop healthy self-esteem and resiliency, writes Tugend.
• Imperfection gives us courage, compassion and connection, explains Brené Brown, PhD, LMSW in her book The Gifts of Imperfection. These gifts contribute to living a full, meaningful, authentic life. 
• "Our creative process has shown us," writes improviser and corporate speaker John Sweeney in his book Innovation at the Speed of Laughter, "… that most 'mistakes' lead to the next unexpected innovation, the next great idea."

 

Keys to Embracing Imperfection

Embracing imperfection, like many new perspectives, takes practice and awareness. To walk through life with imperfection as your friend, try to:

• focus on efforts and de-emphasize results
• take risks and accept challenges
• remain aware of stereotypes and society's "contradictory message that it's all right to make mistakes but not where it counts," advises Tugend
• avoid evaluating mistakes as "good" or "bad"
• avoid comparing ourselves, our possessions and our actions to others
• though not all ideas are worthy of follow-through, accept all ideas when they arise rather than dismissing an idea before it's had a chance to grow wings 

Imperfection can serve as a springboard for creativity and innovation. When you try on a mindset of imperfection, you might be surprised by how your child's or your own innovation, ideas and creativity can blossom. Where can you see the value of imperfection in your own life? Leave a comment or send me a tweet.

If you liked this post,
you might also enjoy Learn: Letting Go of Expectations

 

Learn: Facilitate Development of Creativity in Children (Part 1)

Back in this October post, I posed a few questions about creativity in children:

• Is creativity valued as much as technical skill? When it comes to creativity, does reality match the ideology that innovation and progress depend on creative thinkers?
• What else can we do to help foster creativity in children?

Today I'm ready to begin answering the question: What can we do to help foster creativity in children?

At my local library, I struck gold with artist and teacher Michele Cassou's book Kids Play: Igniting Children's Creativity. Though it focuses narrowly on painting, Kids Play applies easily to other forms of creativity like drawing, building and crafting. These key points from Cassou's philosophy struck me as most critical to a child's creative development:

• Free creativity serves an important purpose 
• Words and actions can stunt creativity
• Adults can facilitate healthy development of creativity in children

 

Free Creativity Serves an Important Purpose

When adults allow children the freedom to approach creativity as "play, adventure, and self-expression," creativity can nurture the growth of a child's self-confidence and authenticity. By creating for exploration rather than result, children learn invention and trust in intuition. In free and safe (yet structured) environments, children will learn to respect the process of their work (rather than the outcome) and will, along the way, discover and invent techniques. (Yes, they may be "reinventing the wheel" per say; however, the value of discovering these creative skills on their own greatly expands their creative potential.)      

Words & Actions Can Stunt Creativity

Rules, requirements and, most subtly yet notably, expectations can shut down a child's creativity in an instant. When children hold specific expectations—usually learned from adults who unwittingly judge or critique their work—they see that they cannot achieve the desired result (a realistic looking puppy, say) and give up before they even begin. "Every time we evaluate their work, with a compliment or criticism" writes Cassou, "we are taking away from process and with it their freedom and power of invention. We make them self-conscious about their work." Mentioning or trying to teach to a child the rules of perspective and scale only leads to repressed creativity and freedom as does comparing one child's creative work to another's and allowing a child's work to be judged by anyone (e.g., by displaying artwork on the fridge).

Adults Can Facilitate Healthy Development of Creativity in Children

As a well-meaning parent, I am guilty of praising my daughters' artworks and of suggesting changes or additions. From now on, though, I will try mindfully to consider my comments and actions toward Lauren's and Allison's creative works. For children (or adults) to reconnect with their authentic creativity, which Cassou assures is possible, can take up to two months in a free and safe environment.  

Learn: Facilitate Development of Creativity in Children (Part 2) will continue this discussion, offering suggested responses to kids who ask "what should I draw" or "do you like my picture?" (Update: Links to Part 2 and Part 3.)

What do you think about Cassou's perspective on kids' creativity? Leave a comment here or via twitter.

 

Share: Reflections on "Two Trains Running"

As I mentioned in yesterday's Music Monday post, Joel and I recently saw August Wilson's play Two Trains Running at Penumbra Theatre in St. Paul, Minnesota. This particular production has already run its course, but if there's a theatre company in your area producing any August Wilson play, or if you have the opportunity to go see one in the future, buy a ticket; you'll be glad you did.

While Two Trains Running is set in 1969, this work is as relevant today as when it was written about 20 years ago and as it would have been 40-plus years ago. The issues floating on the surface in Two Trains Running remain relevant: The gap between the rich and poor has increased; problems with the economy and unemployment have returned to haunt us; pockets within cities are constantly under redevelopment. And tensions between different groups—black and white, rich and poor, gay and straight, republican and democrat, Christian and Muslim—sizzle as much as ever.

Below the superficial layer stream themes universal to all humanity, no matter one's race or creed: We are all human with faults and aspirations; on some level, we are all oppressors and victims of oppression; and, whether we believe in fate or in the philosophy of choice, we all make our own choices in perceiving our personal realities.

We are all human with faults and aspirations. What right have we to judge others when none of us is without a skeleton or two in the closet, none of us is without faults. All of us love, have dreams, die. From a humanist perspective, we are all fundamentally the same, despite our differences.

We are all oppressors and victims of oppression. Take a look at this list of
12 Types of Oppression. I'd be willing to bet each of us is guilty of some form of -ism, some level of unrighteous judgement of others. At the same time, each of us may have been on the receiving end of an -ism at one point or another. In Two Trains Running, the character Memphis complains about whites back home in the South pushing him off his land, and he rails about being taken advantage of by the city, which is claiming emminant domain over the building he owns. At the same time, Memphis treats his employee, Risa, poorly and beats Hambone, a mentally disturbed man, with hardly a second thought.

We all make our own choices in perceiving our personal realities. The Two Trains Running character West spews his well-earned wisdom at a younger character: "The trouble with you, Sterling, is you're carrying around a 10-gallon bucket. If someone puts a drop in there, it looks empty. Get you a cup!" West's lesson is that if you go around expecting life (or someone or something other than yourself) to fill completely the 10-gallon bucket you're carrying, you will, without a doubt, be disappointed. Instead, carry a cup and be happy with each little drop. Do you choose to carry a 10-gallon bucket or a cup? How do you see things: half full? Or half empty? The choice is yours. 

With vivid characters, intense emotions and a story as real as your own reflection in the mirror, August Wilson's work poignantly communicates with hearts and minds of diverse audience members, no matter their backgrounds.

The life I know best is black American life and through Bearden I realized that you could arrive at the universal through the specific.
—August Wilson (1945-2005)