Dear Readers:
I really enjoy the work I do. One of my favorite activities of my clinical work is observing children whom I am evaluating in their school environment. This type of activity has given me the opportunity to enjoy being in various classrooms in many schools around the three counties in our area.
Through this facet of my job, I have encountered all kinds of teachers, schools, classrooms, as well as children. I am always so impressed with teachers; I wrote an article a while ago elaborating on how great I believe their value to be.
A few years ago, I was observing a child in a classroom. I followed that child’s class to various activities, and one of them was Art Class. I always loved Art—I actually can still remember my art teacher from middle school. The classroom I was observing was a 1st grade group of 23 children. The very well behaved group of kids entered the Art Room walking slowly in a line. The teacher—we’ll call her “Inside the Lines”—welcomed the children as she directed them to the four tables and chairs.
Then, she started her instruction: “Today, we are going to make clay platters! Pay attention to what I am going to tell you because you only have 15 minutes to do this!” So, Mrs. “Within the Lines” showed the children how to make the platter, and then she gave each child a piece of clay to start shaping in the same way she had shaped hers platter.
I observed how some children enjoyed the sensorial experience of just touching the red clay, and getting their hands “dirty”. They liked the freedom of changing the shape of the clay… until the teacher announced: “See, children, this is how the clay platter has to look like!” as she showed her model.
After a few moments, the teacher started walking around the classroom. Sometimes she helped children shape the clay, and other times she was praising others who had completed their work. Suddenly, Mrs. “Within the Lines” stopped and looked at the result of one boy’s work: He had made a platter that actually looked more like a bowl… The bowl had some pointy parts, and was certainly different from Mrs. “Within the Lines’s” model… The teacher stopped, held the boy’s piece of art, and said: “Oh! This is interesting….” But then, Mrs. “Within the Lines” smashed his piece of art and said: “You need to make a platter, just like the one that I made before. Please, do it fast because we are running out of time.”
I was shocked with what I heard, and I felt so sorry for the little boy! He had made a beautiful “bowl”, and he went beyond just copying what the teacher had in her hands… I started thinking how much negative impact those few words had on this very creative child’s mind. I was in the Boca Raton Museum recently, and learned about Picasso’s early art projects: They were certainly not like the ones his peers were making… I wonder if his teacher gave him bad grades for his art work….
It is very important to allow creativity develop in people’s lives. Adults also benefit from continuing developing their creativity. I often recommend adults to take art, music, or dance classes. There are many places that offer classes during the summer, even for adults.
It is really important to listen to our wishes and preferences when talking about hobbies. I have been playing an instrument as well as singing my whole life. However, more recently, I found out that photography and dancing are a passion of mine also.
It is imperative that we listen to our children’s wishes and talents. My friends just told me a story about their daughter. She was not very happy with her regular College curriculum. Suddenly, she realized that she loved cooking and creating new dishes and menus. Actually, she had known that her whole life, but she had never given herself the permission to develop that as a career (since she felt that she needed to go to medical school because she was so bright). Today, this young woman is finishing Culinary School upstate New York, and she already has a job in a very nice restaurant in Manhattan.
As I told you, I really like what I do for a living. I am thankful to my parents for having allowed me to pursue my career goals. I would like to recommend parents to help their children find what they really like to do, beginning at a very young age by providing the environment. Even in choosing a Summer Camp for your child, make sure that it is what he/she wants to do. For instance, if you have a son who does not enjoy sports so much, do not put him in an all sports camp. If he/she likes Science a lot, let him/her spend part of the summer in a camp in one of the Science Centers. But, most of all, don’t make very busy schedules for your children! Let them play and just do whatever they want at home… as long as they don’t spend too much time in front of the television, the computer, or the game boy. Previously printed in the Jewish Journal.
By Vera Joffe, Ph. D., ABPP
