Tips for Encouraging Creativity from Adam Grant
I’ve read a few books on creativity recently, and I highly recommend one of them, Originals by Adam Grant. I’ve found it useful for my professional and other relationships, not just for parenting. The part of the book specifically useful for parenting is only part of the book, but I found all of it useful for considering how to become a more aware individual, hopefully a bit more knowledgeable about how to conduct myself through this silly, weird life.
Chapter 6 of Originals examines family relationships, and if you read nothing else, read even a snippet (available online here in the preview mode actually) about the role that birth order plays in creating baseball players who have stolen the most bases. Fascinating!
In short, some of the actions that Grant recommends are:
- “Ask children what their role models would do.” Yeah, the best role models for children aren’t their parents but others, real people or fictional characters even.
- “Link good behavior to moral character.” Grant’s discussion and the science around praising actions versus character (“you’re helping” versus “you’re a good helper”) Expare intriguing. I really recommend reading this whole section in order to wrap your head around it. Ever since I read it I’ve been rolling the ideas around in my head trying to understand it thoroughly enough to remember.
- “Explain how bad behaviors have consequences for others.” Instead of saying, “Don’t throw that!” focus on how it could hurt someone else. “Don’t throw that. It could hurt your sister.”
- “Emphasize values over rules.” If you hate a kid’s ‘why’ phase, you may hate this, too, but explaining why we do things, not just that there are rules to be obeyed, helps children internalize the concepts and carry them forward in ways that we should be proud of. “Don’t jump on the seat. There are people on the other side of the booth who may be bothered when you jump, and we need to be respectful of them and their space, too.”
- “Create novel niches for children to pursue.” Instead of children focusing on the same roles, give them variety. If we as a family are having a crafty Saturday, maybe each child takes a different kind of craft project to work on. Each child can be responsible for doing a different chore when cleaning up as well.
If you want to read more of Grant’s thoughts on this but don’t have time for the full book, check out his article “How to Raise a Creative Child: Back Off”
Also check out his site. He sends out a newsletter every so often if you’re interested, too.
