I am constantly inspired by the creativity of children and strive to find that inner child when I am creating books. It's hard. Society has taught us all to conform and suppress ideas and actions that are against the norm. I've often thought about my own childhood and the very creative ways we entertained ourselves simply because my mom severely limited TV viewing. She could've allowed more TV time and probably would've had a lot more peace around the house with her 6 boys and 3 girls. But had she done that, we would've never invented the games "Mr. Google Goggle" or "Screwshle Squirrelhead." Had she done that we would never have made our own "library", "restaurant," or had millions of adventures in the woods behind our house. I'm thankful to my mom who made necessity the mother of our inventions and creativity.
May we all find our inner child and CREATE!
May we all find our inner child and CREATE!
Love this! It's so true. Every time I want to turn on the TV to keep the kids quiet, I actually think about this. Obviously the TV still goes on too often, but I usually have them figure something else to do for a while first.
ReplyDeleteYou are totally right. My childhood was shaped by the opportunities I had to use my imagination, explore the world, build things, and spend hours and hours outside (away from the TV). I didn’t need new toys, or to watch the next TV show, or spend hours playing video games (though I enjoyed all of those at the time). I didn’t need to go to some exotic place across the world, or to Disneyland, or to spend lots of money, Looking back, I didn’t need ANY of those things to have a great time, and enjoy my childhood, or to feel like it was successful!
ReplyDeleteTo be quite honest, besides my love for books, and habit of constantly doodling, my childhood experiences later shaped and pushed my desires to become an illustrator. I can’t thank my parents enough for caring by ‘unjustly’ limiting our TV watching.
Speaking of parents…I wonder how they managed to do it! I often find myself falling back on the TV as a crutch. Yes my son is only one and half, but the time will come when the line must be drawn. To be fair, my wife and I go on as many walks as possible, and on special occasions I get to take him down to the woods next to our place and spend time exploring, playing, and throwing stones in the stream. Heck, he’s gotten to the point that he DRAGS ME down to the woods! I hope I can be stronger in the future by putting my foot down for my son, and the one on the way. What adventures we will have!
Great post. Thanks for sharing the movie.
(Only now do I realize the SHEER POWER of a child’s imagination…because as an adult, I can only scratch the surface anymore.)
I also too often fall back on TV as a crutch/babysitter. I was totally inspired by this video and recalled my own childhood and what my parents did for me (and my imagination). Even now I get in the "gotta get the illustration job done" mode instead of searching for and releasing the creativity inside of me. I think I will return to this video often to remind myself of what I need to do as a parent and as an illustrator.
DeleteI'm glad you enjoyed it.