Here is one of many articles The Creativity
Institute has reviewed and reprinted on nurturing and boosting
creativity in children. Among the articles you'll find on this
site are those that demonstrate the importance of creative environments
at early ages and the power of the right educational toys.
His Toy, Her Toy
by Jennifer Gove
I remember when my daughter was born. Visions
of her and I dressed in pinks and purples sitting in her lacy
pink room playing dolls danced threw my head. A year later my
son was born. My husbands vision of sports and trucks revved around
like mad men through his manly mind.
Those dreams were simply that: dreams. Little
did I know there are lessons for parents to learn about children's
toys and who our children will be.
My daughter plays with dolls. She plays with
clay and gets her hands dirty. She plays in the dirt, climbs trees
and races her trucks around. She plays kick ball , baseball and
can run as fast as any boy.
My son plays with trucks and builds with blocks,
he colors and plays ps2 and he plays house with my girl's toys,
rocking babies and feeding them.
There was a time my husband would bark to my
son "Put down that doll!" until we came to the realization
that play is really a child's preparation for real life. Our daughter
was learning sportsmanship and how to be a team player from all
the sports she played. My son was learning compassion and parenting
skills from those dolls. It's amazing to me to watch my son now
with his baby brother. I can see the compassion he has learned
through us and his play, and I know some day he will be a good
father. I see my daughter line up her brothers and sister for
a game of kick ball. And I see how she has learned to take the
lead and take charge. I know some day in whatever she puts her
mind to see will be a success.
My message to parents is not to limit their
child. Toys and sports are learning tools for life and they shouldn't
carry a gender.
By the way my daughter and I play but it's
not dolls. Many days you can find us all at the beach, covered
in muddy sand driving our big Tonka's™ .
© 2004-2005 Jennifer Gove
http://www.simplymoms.com
About The Author
Jennifer is a stay at home mother of eight.Living
on the coast of Maine. To visit her parenting site that includes
more articles, forums and chat go to http://www.simplymoms.com/forums
zjgim@hotmail.com