Canned Creativity

Years ago, when Kenzie, my second kiddo, was in Kindergarten, we proudly hung the holiday-specific artwork they brought home in the windows on the front porch.  However, when we looked across the road, we saw the very same picture hanging in the neighbor's front window - it just so happened that their child was in Kindergarten too.  And not, coincidentally, they were the same pieces that Ian, my first kiddo, brought home three years earlier.  Since then, it has served as the perfect example of what I refer to as canned creativity.

You may notice that the oxymoronic level is off the charts for that particular phrase.  Authentic artistry, ingenuity, imagination, and originality don't come prepackaged and contrived with lesson plans attached.  No one should ever provide you with pre-cut and pre-drawn components or step-by-step instructions.  Or get to tell you what color your pumpkin should be - and they are never (ever) allowed to scold you for coloring outside the lines.  

Creativity is born inside your vision, and it is yours - no one else's.  

Instead of squashing all that potential with tired canned projects - we can support it by providing the requested resources, materials and encouragement, and then standing back (and as I have said here more than once - get to hell out of the way) to watch the creativity flow.  The results may not be what we had in mind or even particularly beautiful - however, they certainly won't be tired, boring, soulless, or mind-numbingly predictable either.  

I firmly believe that those who dare to dream, invent, and, yes, even make mistakes - are the people who will think outside the box and consider all the angles to come up with fresh, inspired ideas to solve the problems we have been working on for a very long time.  

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