How to Avoid 7 Kid Creativity Crushers

The call for creativity in education is picking up steam. Educators around the globe are inventing new, innovative modes of teaching to help build creative thinking skills. In order for creativity to take hold, parents need to model creative behaviors at home. Sometimes, figuring out what not to do sheds light on the best practices to employ. Here are 7 surefire ways to crush a child's creativity. These are based on research by Amabile and Hennessy (1992):

1. Surveillance - putting your kids under a microscope and making them feel like they're being watched
2. Evaluation - judging your kids performance
3. Rewards - giving your kids trinkets and tokens for achievements
4. Competition - creating a situation where there can be only one winner (as opposed to competing against oneself)
5. Over-control - micromanaging how your children accomplish tasks
6. Restricting choice - not allowing kids to tap into their curiosity
7. Pressure - setting expectations that cannot be met

Awareness of these creativity crushers can help parents model creative behavior and foster a creative environment at home. Some tips to try include giving your child room to imagine and praising your child's work. When praising, be specific about what you appreciate. While saying, "I like what you've done" is helpful, saying, "What I like about your project is how you explored the use of color to highlight the main character" goes even further in building a creative climate. In the second scenario, isolating the specific positive feedback lets your child know you're really paying attention. This type of "reward" helps to build intrinsic motivation which has been shown to be a better motivator than extrinsic rewards.
Source: Amabile, T. M., and B. A. Hennessey. "The Motivation for Creativity in Children." In Achievement and Motivation: A Social-Developmental Perspective, edited by A. K. Boggiano and T. Pittman. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992.