principle of surface tension. You rub your
fingertip with some soap or dip it in mild
detergent. The detergent breaks down the
water’s surface tension so that the water
spreads away from the center pushing the
pepper with it. Teach this to your child to
surprise his friends. Only he will have the
“magic” finger!
Tip No. 27 – Animal Magic
“Mothers and kids are the most dynamic and exciting learning combination
possible and have always been since mothers started that process a long
time ago. ” Glenn Doman
Children learn to represent things by using their bodies. Imitating the
movement of animals offers a very interesting exercise in creativity.
Ask your children to slither like a snake, hop like a rabbit or a kangaroo,
walk like an elephant and crawl like a caterpillar.
Do not be restricted to only these animals.
Ask your children to imitate the movements of any other animals that
they think of.
It is really fun, especially if you join them and play some music as well.
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Question 27: How can this nurture creativity in my children?
Response 27: Your children would be able to correlate the movements of
the animals with their body structure. It will enable them to discover that
different animals move differently.
This play will make them more alert to observe animal movements when
they watch TV shows or they are at the zoo or anywhere else where they
encounter live animals.
You can even make it more fun by asking your children to imitate a
particular animal movement and you try to guess the animal. Your
children could let out shrieks of laughter if you guessed incorrectly so do
try to deliberately make a wrong guess occasionally. This will give your
children another chance to demonstrate the movement again.
If you give up after a few tries, your children will try to explain the
movement to you. Isn’t this a wonderful way to encourage creativity in
your children?
Mind exercise 27
Ask your children for the names of some of their favorite animals. Which
animal do they like best and why?
Next, get a pencil and paper to design a new animal, a combination of two
or more animals with, for example, the ears of a rabbit, the body of an
elephant and the legs of a caterpillar.
What would they call such a creature?
Where do they think these creatures could be found?
Adapt this mind exercise to arouse the natural curiosity of your children.
Tip No. 28 – Playing with Dough
“What's the matter with kids today? Their lives are so busy, structured
and infused with digital technology that they have no time for fun.
Kids today are focused on competition, efficiency and on results. One
consequence of this development is that their imaginations are beginning
to atrophy. ” Ted Klauber
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Next time when you are making
buns, cookies or pizza, give
your child a piece of the dough
to play with.
My children just loved to make
animal shapes with them.
Whether baked or steamed, the
results always fascinated them.
Sometimes, they liked to keep them rather than eating them. It provided
a great deal of fun and learning.
When they were baked or steamed, the final shape might be different
from what they originally created.
If you do not prepare buns or cookies, you could buy some modeling clay
for them from a stationery shop.
Question 28: How can this nurture creativity in my children?
Response 28: This is both an interesting discovery involving art and
science. Making animal shapes is the artistic part, while observing the
change is science.
You could make it even more interesting by allowing your child to paint
their artwork with food colors.
The transformation of the piece of dough into a cooked food could be the
starting point of a discussion about the cooking of food.
You could tell your child that cooking could destroy important nutrients
like vitamins. Therefore, it is good to consume fresh fruits and vegetables
in the form of salads.
Mind exercise 28
Given a knife, how do you cut the cake into 8 equal pieces with only 3
cuts?
Answer 28: First slice the cake horizontally in the middle with the knife.
Then make two cuts from top to bottom making a total of 8 pieces.
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Tip No. 29 – Fun with Shadows
“Creativity provides an exciting way for children to become intrinsically
motivated, to find joy in the ordinary and to discover their hidden talents.
All children possess creativity. ” Steve Dahlberg
You only need a torch, or flashlight, and
a blank wall for this. Switch off the
lights and get your child to hold the
torch with its light switched on. Make
different animal-shaped shadows using
both your hands and fingers. You could
also introduce other objects such as
pencils, forks and spoons to make the
shadows more interesting.
Once you child gets the hang of it, encourage him to make his own
shadows.
Question 29: How can this nurture creativity in my children?
Response 29: Playing with shadows is a good way to tap into your child’s
creativity. It demonstrates to your children that they could apply their
creativity anywhere using only their hands and a light source. It also
demonstrates the principle of light traveling in straight lines.
Mind exercise 29
Is it possible to have colored shadows?
Answer 29: Yes. It is especially effective using the primary light colors of red, green and blue. The lights should be placed at different positions.
Just use a piece of transparent, colored paper over the light source and
explore the possibilities.
Tip No. 30 - Collage
“Creativity includes drawing and painting, but it is more than just art.
Creativity includes having fun and playing, but it is more than just fun and
games. Creativity provides an exciting way for children to become
intrinsically motivated, to find joy in the ordinary, and to discover their
hidden talents. All children possess creativity. ” Steve Dahlberg
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Using pictures and words cut out from old magazines and a piece of art
paper or card board, create a collage. Ask your child what theme they
would like to create a collage about. The theme might be "My hobbies”,
“What I would like to be when I grow up” or “My dream home”.
Your child can add their own decorations to the collage by using colored
pencils, crayons or pieces of colored paper.
Question 30: How can this nurture creativity in my children?
Response 30: This exercise encourages your child to communicate her
creativity in a way that others can understand. This is a very important
aspect of creativity. There is no point being creative if the creativity
cannot be communicated to others. Tell your child to explain her
completed collage and ask her questions and listen intently to her
answers. It should be a very interesting experience for you and your child.
Mind exercise 30
How do you pack 9 photos in equal numbers into 4 envelopes?
Answer 30: You can pack 3 photos into each of the 3 envelopes. After
this, you stuff these 3 envelopes into a larger envelope.
There are other alternative answers. Could you figure them out with your
child?
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Part II
The Creative Mischiefs of Little Kamal
“Society has not given the same attention to the education of the genius
as has been given to other groups. We spend millions every year for the
mentally retarded. The unfortunate child of superior intellect spends his
time in a usual commonplace school assimilating a diet far below his
expected capacity. ” Josephine Concannon
One of the greatest joys of parenting is to observe our kids growing up,
especially during their formative pre-school years. During this time they
are at their creative best and delight us with their antics.
Recalling these incidents will usually put a smile on our faces for years to
come.
A very good friend of mine, Talib Zulpilip, related to me the creative
mischief of his son whom he lovingly called "Little Kamal". Kamal was a
very active and playful little boy. He was the baby of the family and
provided hilarious entertainment but was a source of exasperation for
them. I find the stories about Kamal touch my heart as a parent and I
think they will touch yours too. That’s why I would like to share them with
you.
Invisible Art – “Germ Warfare”
Kamal was good at a lot of things, but art was not one of them.
Knowing this weakness, his elder sister Moana and her friends teased him
to draw.
To their surprise, Kamal readily accepted the challenge without hesitation.
With a pencil in hand, Kamal bent over the piece of white paper and
concentrated on his task with the intensity of a great artist. Finally, he
completed his art and triumphantly declared “Finished!”
It was a blank piece of paper!
"We can’t see any drawing on the paper," chorused the girls.
"Of course you can’t see" replied Little Kamal with a cheeky smile, " I drew germs"
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Feline Helpers
Talib believes that getting his children to help out with household chores is
a good way to bring them up. I agree with him.
In fact, Kamal himself admitted that these chores have helped him a lot to
cope with his student days at a university away from home in Australia.
When Kamal was old enough to help out with household chores, it was
decided to assign him his roster for clearing the table after dinner.
Always cheerful, Kamal accepted his assignment without complaint.
One day, after a few weeks of doing his roster, he surveyed the table and
came up with a novel idea. Instead of cleaning the table himself, he
gathered all the cats and kittens and put them on the dining table and
then just watched.
On being asked what he was up to he put his finger to his mouth and
signaled “Shhh… .I am teaching the cats to clean the table”
“Why?” I whispered.
“If they can lick all the food off, then they clean the dishes for me”
Balanced Meal
Like most kids of his age, little Kamal simply loved junk food.
He disliked eating fruits and vegetables.
His father, Talib, always wanted to persuade him to have a more
nutritionally balanced meal. He found the right opportunity when he found
Kamal munching happily on some food in his hands.
"You know that it is important to eat a balanced meal?" Talib reminded his son.
"Yes, I do. I am having balanced meal” he replied, waving a burger on
one hand and a chicken drumstick on the other.
A Little Boy and the Sea
One fine morning, Kamal was swimming in the calm, warm clear blue sea
with Moana, his big sister.
After a while, they were told that it was getting late and it was time to go
home.
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They asked for a bit of an extension and it was granted.
When they were told it was finally time to go, Kamal happily followed
Moana out of the water.
But, once on the beach Kamal was up to his usual antics.
After a short distance walking on the beach, Kamal stumbled and said, “I
fell down!”
He was told, “Okay, you go and wash the sand off” and he happily went to
clean himself in the sea.
After taking his sweet time to wash the sand off, he was asked to get out
of the water and he did.
After a few minutes of walking he stumbled again. “I fell again!” he
exclaimed.
He was asked to wash and took the opportunity to have another frolic in
the sea.
Then, he had a third fall. It dawned on his father that the falls were done
on purpose - a delaying tactic.
After becoming wise to this, Talib solved the repeated ‘fall and washing’
problem.
Kamal was not asked to have a wash after a fall. Instead, the 3 year old
Kamal was carried sand and all, on his father’s shoulders.
He laughed , knowing that he had been beaten this time.
Education
Like most parents, we hoped that Kamal would take his studies seriously.
He was encouraged to think, (i.e. use his brains - we believe he had
plenty).
But, he was rather inquisitive and from an early age started questioning
the conventional wisdom of education.
Art: In his early days at Primary School, he came upon a simple
conclusion about art and drawing. Despite Talib’s effort to assist him in
the art assignment, including doing the drawing, the art teacher still saw
it fit to give only a “C”- for the fatherly love.
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No doubt, the fact that Kamal was not too good at drawing could have
prompted this discovery and the following dialog.
“Why do we have to learn drawing?” he inquired one evening
“It is good training to develop your skill” Talib replied and thought that
was a wisdom-laden answer.
“Why do I need to develop the skill to draw?” Kamal persisted
“Oh well, when you see nice things like flowers or birds, you can draw
them”
“Won’t it be easier just to take their pictures with my camera?”
“I suppose so” replied Talib who saw some logic in the reasoning.
“Drawing was for the olden days before they invented cameras” Kamal
concluded.
Little Kamal did not see it appropriate to continue art at secondary school
Why Study History? History was among the various subjects which
Kamal had to study.
He had obtained an “A” for the subject but he had flunked it at other
times. On being encouraged to study history, he stated politely that
history is a boring subject involving the past and dead people.
“Well, it is good to know the past – that’s the reason we learn history”
Talib said in his fatherly fashion.
“Good in what sense?”
“Say in the past they had wars; knowing the past might help mankind not
to repeat the mistake.” Talib tried to instill a bit of philosophy.
“Did they teach history in the past?”
“Yes.”
“Then how did they have so many wars in the past?” came the logical
question.
“Anyhow, when you study history you get to know historical figures”
persisted Talib.
“It won’t be much good even if I learn about them.”
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“Why not?” Talib thought it was his turn to ask a question to see if the
little fellow had any logical answer.
“Well, even if I learn about them I would not meet them.”
Kamal won that round.
* ** * ** * ** * ** * ** * ** * ** * ** * ** * ** * ** * ** * ** *
I hope that you have enjoyed reading the creative mischief of little Kamal.I am sure you have similar stories of your children during their young
days. Why not share them with me so that I could include them in future
editions of my book? You could email me at drykk@mindbloom.net.
Copyright © 2004-2008 Dr. YKK Yew Kam Keong, Ph.D
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Part III
In Praise of Black Sheep
Rule-breaking children make the most
self-reliant and independent adults
by Johann Christoph Arnold
There's a black sheep in every flock, and there are few of us who don't
know one, or didn't know one as a child.
Every family, every class, has one: that brother or sister, boy or girl,
who's always in trouble, who's prone to stretch limits or take things "too
far," who's embarrassingly honest, who never fits in.
It's that child over whom every teacher puzzles over longest and every
parent loses the most sleep.
But, no matter how natural the phenomenon, being a misfit is never easy.
Because children are so vulnerable, and because they are dependent on
the adults around them, they are far more sensitive to criticism than one
might guess, and far more easily crushed.
And, even if their natural forgetfulness and their amazing capacity to
forgive relieves most children of much that might burden an adult, there
are those whose self-confidence can be shredded by an unjust accusation,
a cutting remark or a hasty miscalculation.
Whenever we pass judgment on a child, we fail to see him as a whole
person. True, he may be nervous, shy, stubborn, moody, or violent; we
may know his siblings or his background, or think we recognize family
traits.
But, to focus on any one aspect of a child, especially a negative one, is to
put him in a box whose sides may not really be determined by reality, but
only by our own expectations.
Obviously, every child is different.
Some seem to get all the lucky breaks, while others have a rough time
simply coping with life.
One child consistently brings home perfect scores, while the next is always
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at the bottom of the class.
Another is gifted and popular, while still another, no matter how hard he
tries, is always in trouble and often gets forgotten.
As parents, we must refrain from showing favoritism, and from comparing
our children with others.
Above all, we must refrain from pushing them to become something that
their unique personal makeup may never allow them to be.
Neither should we forget that raising a "good" child is a dubious goal in the first place, if only because the line between instilling integrity and
breeding self-righteousness is so fine.
Getting into trouble can be a vital part of building a child's character.
As the Polish pediatrician, Janusz Korczak, points out, "The good child
cries very little, he sleeps through the night, he is confident and good-
natured. He is well-behaved, convenient, obedient, and good. Yet, no
consideration is given to the fact that he may grow up to be indolent and
stagnant."
It is often hard for parents to see the benefits of having raised a difficult
child - even when the outcome is positive.
But, strange as it may sound, I believe that the more challenging the
child, the more grateful the parent should be.
If anything, parents of difficult children ought to be envied, because it is
they, more than any others, who are forced to learn the most wonderful
secret of true parenthood; the meaning of unconditional love.
It is a secret that remains hidden from those whose love is never tested.
At a conference in the sixties, at a time when "maladjustment" was the
educational catchphrase of the day, Martin Luther King shocked teachers
and parents by turning the supposed problem on its head.
A colleague remembers him saying, "Thank God for maladjusted children."
When we welcome the prospect of raising the problematic child with these
things in mind, we begin to see our frustrations as moments that can
awaken our best qualities.
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And, instead of envying the ease with which our neighbors seem to raise
perfect offspring, we will remember that rule-breakers and children who
show their horns often make more self-reliant and independent adults
than those whose limits are never tried.
By helping us to discover the limitations of "goodness" and the boredom
of conformity, they can teach us the necessity of genuineness, the wisdom
of humility and, finally, the reality that nothing good is won without a
struggle.
Reproduced with kind permission from Johann Christoph Arnold
From "ENDANGERED: Your Child in a Hostile World " by Johann Christoph
Arnold. A free ebook & interactive website:
http://www.plough.com/endangered
Copyright © 2004-2008 Dr. YKK Yew Kam Keong, Ph.D