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