I have a creative thinker in my house, and there's no doubt about it. Watson's brain is always seeing shapes and objects everywhere he goes. "Mommy, this looks like a seahorse!" "MOMMY! That cloud is shaped like an alligator!
He loves building and making everything from castles to lighthouses, and he's pretty good at it. I often wonder what his mind could dream up if I let him be free to create.
Free from my intervention and micromanagement.
I wouldn't say I'm a helicopter parent by any definition, but I'm schooling my kids in our home, and their development matters to me. Even still, time after time, I'm surprised by the things the kid comes up with and how he learns. The questions he asks lead to more educational opportunities.
I'm enticed by unschooling because children's inquisitive nature blazes the academic path, and the curriculum creates itself.
I have no reservations that God called us to be creators. He created us in His own image and gave us true gifts.
He has filled them with skill to do all kinds of work as engravers, designers, embroiderers in blue, purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen, and weavers—all of them skilled workers and designers. Exodus 35:35
If we have a creative flow free from the thoughts of "I should be doing," could it be easier to see why we were designed in the first place? When our imaginations are allowed to run wild, and we can be in our zone, aren't we the happiest? Don't we do our absolute best when we operate in our strengths and interests?
Sometimes I need to figure out what to do with our oldest boy. Here we are doing 6+2, and in a flash, 8 becomes a snowman, and we're doing art class. I hate to squash his creativity because let's face it, the world needs more innovative thinkers to solve problems. The Lord has given him these unique talents and his goofy personality for HIS purpose, not mine. But he needs to learn math, right? What kind of mom would I be if I let him switch to drawing in the middle of addition?
I can't be mad because our son gets his creative side from me.
Back in my school days, my art teacher was Mrs. Robkin. I'll never forget her. She was an older woman and always wore her silver hair in a bun, often with chopsticks. She was the kind of lady who didn't say much but didn't hide her emotions either. When she got annoyed, her eyelashes would flash a million miles an hour, and she'd walk away or return to her business while we'd paint or whatever project we had at the time. But one thing she allowed me to be was free. In one class, she gave us the assignment to make a pot. It was one of those pots where you roll the clay into a long snake-like piece and coil it into a bowl or cup. However, I had other plans that day and felt a bit silly.
I made a toilet. The whole time I was molding it, I waited to be corrected. I fully anticipated the teacher would approach me with those fluttering lashes and ask me to do the "right assignment."
But she never did.
She never scolded me or ANYTHING. It was unbelievable. My toilet was returned to me the next class, and I painted it blue. She could have told me to paint it white. But she didn't. She probably thought I was a lost cause at that point. Or maybe, Mrs. Robkin allowed art to be what it was always meant to be, creative expression.
I can only imagine her face as she put all those pots into the oven after class. Did she smirk or laugh? I can only wonder what might have been going on in her head.
One thing I do know for sure, she permitted art to be art.
Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. Romans 12:2
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