Raising Creative Children

Raising Creative Children

My husband and I have just finished a week of soccer camp for our five-year-old. As we anticipate all the summers ahead, with both of us working and our children home from school, we realize that summer camps will be our friends. However, what we did not expect was all the extra work required on our part to make camp happen. Between dropping off our two-year-old at preschool and our five-year-old at the stadium for camp, together with our work schedules and all our meetings and tasks, we barely made it through with our sanity intact. And this is just the beginning.

A couple of questions arose for me during this busy week. With the frantic nature of our activities, schedules, and summertime to-do lists, how can we slow down enough to relax, enjoy this summertime weather, and make memories together? How do we make sure that our time together is quality time and not just survival?

Expressing Gratitude in Our Families

As I was reading The Artist’s Way for Parents: Raising Creative Children, I was reminded how important gratitude is. This is true both for us as parents and also for our children. Expressing gratitude is one way in which we can slow down and take in each and every moment we have together.

Try this exercise as a family — together, take turns naming one thing for which you are thankful. Gratitude relieves pressure and this exercise can naturally restore an emotional balance. Choose one item that you named and ask your child to do the same. Now make a “creative offering” that references the thing you named – draw a picture of it, write a song about it, or make up a poem. As you and your child share your offerings with each other, you cherish and honor that for which you are thankful. Then, if you want, say a prayer together.

Spending Intentional Time Together

I am aware that often the memories that last forever are the random car trips with the song yo
u all sang together or the funny thing that happened in the bathtub the other night – the moments you did not necessarily plan for. But I do believe that intentional time together goes a long way in slowing us down enough to relish and remember how important we all are to each other.

Cultivating Family Connection

Another idea for cultivating connection with your family during the summer months is this – together with your child, choose one of your favorite family walks. This should be a walk that you often do together. It could be the walk to the park, the walk around Green Lake to see the ducks, or the walk to buy ice cream. The next time you find yourself on that walk, consciously anticipate all the sights and sounds you will see along the way. Observe them together, and express everything that you hear and see. Allow yourselves to anticipate the adventure of, for example, choosing your ice cream flavor or guessing how many baby ducks you will see. Being intentional and mindful of this experience goes a long way to solidifying the memory and cultivating connection.

These are simple ideas, but  it is often in simplicity that we can slow down enough to enjoy one another and remember the important things in life: Our connection, our family, our relationships with friends, our adoration of God, our expression of gratitude, and our enjoyment of life.

Christian Counseling to Make the Most of Your Family

As a Christian counselor, I am all-too-aware of the frantic, often chaotic, nature of parenting and to-do lists. If you need some help learning skills to slow down, reduce pressure, and learn to manage all the stresses in life and parenting, consider calling a Christian counselor today.