Feed Your Kids A Mentally Stimulating Diet — Nurturing Innovation
What is innovation? It has been aptly described as “See what everybody sees, then think what nobody thought”.
An innovative mindset is what the world requires today. We have always stressed the importance of 21st-century skills, one among which is innovation. In order to solve the problems that are constantly threatening our well being, an innovative mindset is a must.
Tony Wagner, the author of ‘Creating Innovators: The Making of Young People Who Will Change the World’ had said,
“The average child asks 100 questions a day. But by the time a child is 10 or 12 years old, he or she has figured out that it’s much more important to get right answers than to keep asking thoughtful questions.”
He further explained that an increasingly narrow definition of success (including our society’s current focus on materialistic achievement) is creating a culture that makes innovative thinking difficult.
Innovative thinking is not a divine blessing but instead, it is like a muscle that everyone has and needs to exercise as early as possible. And thus, the parents and educators are required to take steps to foster innovative thinking into the children from an early age, so that, in the future, it becomes a part of them. They need to teach the kids to see through the problem and think about its cause, thus devising innovative solutions.
But this is easier said than done. How can you encourage your kids to innovate? Here are a few ways to help you prepare a mentally stimulating diet for your kids, that would appeal to their taste buds as well!
Make serious seem fun!
The easiest way to make something fun is to transform it into a game. Who doesn’t love games, after all? If I give you an option of either attending a meeting or playing a game, most of you would go with the second option (unless you have a crush on your boss).
Games indeed make learning fun. We have often pointed this out in many of our articles, be it the Spatial thinking one, or the Design thinking one. Play with your kids and make learning fun with activity boxes. Lego, building blocks and various activity kits for kids provide numerous possibilities to be innovative, where there is more than one specific solution.
Old school games like Chess and Monopoly can not only allow your kids to be innovative but can also provide you with some quality family time. Indulge yourselves in enjoyment and make serious seem fun!
A mother used Rumble Lab’s Challenge Crate in which kids were asked to use Pascal’s Law to make the world a better place, to create a better future and to innovate. There was a second challenge issued on the card as well — to learn to build a can crusher (which is fun) and to use the knowledge about the mechanical advantage to design a better can crusher. Her kid learnt these concepts while playing games and then used this learning and the materials provided to design a cool hydraulic can crusher. Why don’t you try something similar as well?
Foster curiosity
Curiosity leads to innovation and thus it is quite important to foster curiosity in your kids. Let them ask questions and help them find answers. The common questions which many kids ask like “Why is the sky blue?” or “How do bats fly at night?” can help form a foundation for innovative thinking. Instead of ignoring their questions (especially when you don’t have an answer), encourage them to ask more such questions and to find the answers on their own.
Moreover, you should support their passion because that is their natural curiosity. Let your kids innovate with many different things belonging to various fields, and see what they are more inclined to. This would help your kids discover their passion and would help you to recognize it.
You should teach them to acknowledge and accept their shortcomings. Make them realize that it’s okay to not know everything. What is required is that a person has the curiosity to seek answers to such questions.
Greater sense of purpose
Help your kids to realize the importance of making a difference, and encourage them to make it a target to achieve.
Seeking answers has a fundamental goal — to realise one’s purpose of life (Here you go again, my daily doses of philosophy!)
Make your kids understand that it is important to do something that brings about a change or makes a difference, even if it’s small in magnitude. Only when they realise that their contribution is important, they would be motivated to innovate for a greater cause.
You can do this by discussing global issues or telling them stories from where they can derive inspiration.
Where the mind is without fear…
Teach your kids to be fearless! Innovation requires a risk-taking attitude that doesn’t fear failure. This would even prove to be an important life lesson.
Let your kids fail and appreciate them for portraying the courage to take a risk. Let them realize the true meaning of the proverb that “Participation is more important than winning”. Be supportive and teach them to embrace failure as stepping stones towards success.
Opportunities to let your kids grab the limelight!
Provide your kids with opportunities to express their intelligence. Maybe put some problem before them (according to their age and level of understanding) and then, let them solve it in their own way.
You can even play some games with them, where they need to use their brain in order to solve the riddles and come up with innovative answers.
One isn’t enough
Play games or ask questions that can have several answers, all of which can be correct. Encourage them to try and think about multiple ways to solve a problem, even if one of the ways proves to be successful. This helps to broaden their perspective, allowing them the freedom to think innovatively.
Free time and space
Provide your kids with free time and space where they can indulge in unstructured play. This is one of the best ways to nurture an innovative mindset.
When they aren’t bound by rules and predefined actions, they would be able to use their creativity to the fullest and thus be innovative.
Do not always reward them for their creativity
(Most of you must have read it wrong. I said Do Not. Read it again)
Always rewarding your kids for some creative idea that they came up with, however appealing it may appear, isn’t the right thing to do.
It hinders the process and motivates them to think in a particular way, just driven by the thought of receiving an award. It would make them lose great opportunities to innovate, just because there wasn’t an award offered.
This isn’t the case in real-life scenarios that require an innovative approach. You always aren’t rewarded for solving a problem, but that doesn’t mean that you ignore it. Sometimes you have to do something only because it’s necessary, even if there’s no direct benefit. Thus, don’t get your kids into a habit of receiving rewards for their actions.
Hobbies
Encourage your kids to develop hobbies that have a deeper scientific or artistic component. Studies have shown that this helps to chisel an innovative mindset and also to develop an inclination and improve performance in STEM-based disciplines.
Poetry or astrology are great options that can be quite interesting and knowledgeable at the same time. It would help your kids enjoy while they learn to adapt to an innovative mindset.
Be rebellious
Teach your kids to question something that doesn’t convince them instead of blindly accepting any information that is fed to them.
Teach them to analyze situations logically and rationally, to develop ideas and to form their own hypotheses about the world and the working of its elements, which is the basis for innovation. Let them justify those hypotheses and research on their own for finding facts and figures in support of their arguments.
This would help them in real-life scenarios as well when it’s important to think clearly instead of being overwhelmed by emotions.
Books and walks!
Reading books or going on walks makes us use all of our senses together, when we need to process the information provided or to admire the creations of nature. This provides a much-needed mental stimulation that helps in shaping a healthy mindset which takes an innovative approach.
Optimism
Help your kids develop self-confidence and teach them to have a positive attitude and take an optimistic approach towards things. Give them real-life examples which would inspire them to persevere and not give up because innovation is the product of a hundred failed attempts. The age-old story of the tortoise and the hare or the one about Robert Bruce and the spider can be perfect examples.
Culinary arts
What can be a better place to innovate than the kitchen? This would not only solve your purpose but would also help you to teach your kids some basic skills that they would require later on.
Mixing different ingredients and using different combinations of flavours, can be a fun way to innovate. Moreover, you can let them name their own creations when they invent a new recipe! Even if they fail in the first few attempts, it’s worth the try. It would keep them engaged and allow you to bond with them better.
Creative classroom environment
The classroom should incorporate elements of updated technology which would provide kids with the resources required to innovate. Moreover, the assessment should be based on innovative performance. Project-based learning and collaborating with others can be a great way to implement this.
Conclusion
In times, when an innovative mindset is the need of the hour, it is the duty of both parents and educators to help the kids develop an innovative mindset. They have a significant role to play in the development of the kids and in encouraging innovation, which can be easily done by following the simple tips mentioned here. Learn the recipe here, collect your ingredients and prepare a mentally stimulating diet to feed your kids!
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