March is National Craft Month. I believe that people are born creative. Just watch any baby or toddler exploring his surroundings, and you’ll see what I mean. Unfortunately, most adults start squelching that creativity (Don’t touch!) in their children early on. Eventually that innate creativity is so suppressed that it’s nearly impossible to retrieve. So why are we then surprised when our kids prefer to sit around for hours, staring at a computer monitor or TV screen?
Solving problems and resolving conflicts require creative thinking. Creativity needs to be nurtured in order that today’s children grow up to become tomorrow’s leaders, but too many outside forces are at work, influencing our children to “color within the lines.” Now think about this: people who color within the lines never learn to think outside the box. It’s that outside the box thinking that finds solutions to the world’s problems.
One of the ways we can help our children continue to grow their creativity is to encourage them to craft, beginning at a very early age. The first step is to have creative materials around the house for children to use. Keep ample supplies of paint, glue, markers, chenille stems, craft sticks, pompoms, and other basic craft materials handy for those “I’m bored; there’s nothing to do” days.
Instead of buying another video game for that next birthday party or special occasion, buy craft kits. Keep a few kits on hand for rainy days, for when your children’s friends spend the night, or just for an impromptu surprise. Encourage children to make gifts for family members’ birthdays, Christmas, Valentine’s Day, etc. instead of buying gifts.
Remember that your children’s efforts don’t have to be perfect. Always praise the attempt and encourage children to continue creating. The act of crafting develops small motor skills and hand/eye coordination. Creativity helps grow our brains. By encouraging your children to craft, you’re giving them an incredible foundation for future endeavors.
All it takes for children to learn to love crafting is an environment in which they can satisfy their creative nature. Nurture that inborn talent, and you’ll help your children grow into creative adults that just might wind up solving many of our planet’s problems.
I write two mystery series, the Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mysteries and the Empty Nest Mysteries. In both series my amateur sleuths are artists/crafters, but they must also use the creative sides of their brains not only to solve murders but to find ways out their own personal predicaments.
In Assault with a Deadly Glue
Gun, the first book in the
Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery series, magazine crafts editor Anastasia Pollack
learns that her recently deceased husband was a closet gambler, and he’s left his
family deeply in debt. Anastasia needs to think outside the box to keep herself
and her kids from winding up living in a cardboard box on the street. Each of
the books in the series (four novels and three mini-mysteries to date) finds
her moonlighting at other jobs to help pay down her debt.
In Definitely Dead, the first book in my Empty Nest Mystery series,
would-be novelist Gracie Elliott’s job as a fabric designer is outsourced
overseas. When she can’t find another position in her field, her
outside-the-box thinking results in her establishing a business that will allow
her the flexibility to pen her future (hopefully!) bestsellers while also
earning the income she needs to keep her kids in college. Future books in the
series will find Gracie continuing to put her creativity to work in various
entrepreneurial enterprises.
Bio:
USA
Today bestselling and
award-winning author Lois Winston writes mystery, romance, romantic suspense,
chick lit, women’s fiction, children’s chapter books, and non-fiction under her
own name and her Emma Carlyle pen name. Kirkus
Reviews dubbed her critically acclaimed Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery
series, “North Jersey’s more mature answer to Stephanie Plum.” In addition,
Lois is an award-winning craft and needlework designer who often draws much of her source material for both her characters and
plots from her experiences in the crafts industry. Visit Lois/Emma at www.loiswinston.com and Anastasia at the Killer Crafts &
Crafty Killers blog, www.anastasiapollack.blogspot.com. Follow everyone on Tsu at www.tsu.co/loiswinston, on Pinterest at www.pinterest.com/anasleuth, and onTwitter @anasleuth.
