I’ve always walked to the beat of my own drum. Even now, I encourage my children to do the same … to think outside of the box … I will never forget when my children were younger, a teacher told me that one of my sons was not coloring inside the lines.
“He MUST learn to color inside the lines,” she insisted. Rather than praise him for his creativity in drawing curly cues and clouds in the framework of his picture, she chose to view his work negatively. Another time, I had someone tell me, “Oh, his witch doesn’t look like the others.” Do you know how elated I was that his witch didn’t look like everyone else’s?
Where would we be without the people who decided to try something new? The people who said, “Let’s try looking at it THIS way.” Now, I’m not talking about going against the rules. If there are rules set in place to do things a certain way, then that’s different. What I’m talking about is the creation of new ideas and ways of looking at things in our everyday lives.
Thinking outside the box requires different characteristics:
One should be willing to take new perspectives to day-to-day work.
One should be capable of thinking differently with an open mind, think about “stuff” with substance, and do things differently.
One must focus on the value of finding new ideas and acting on them.
One must be capable of listening to, supporting, nurturing and respecting others when they come up with new ideas.
Now that school has settled into a new year, I urge parents and teachers to be a little more open to the big picture.
Really look at what your children and students are creating and studying and try to view it from different perspectives because your words, your responses (or reactions) will determine what happens to that creativity and enthusiasm for what they are doing. Ask them questions about their work. Most of all, praise them for their insights, creativity and originality. You never know, you just might have the next Picasso or Einstein in your presence.
Deborah Rogers is a teacher and prevention specialist with Trinity Behavioral Care in Marion. You may contact her at rogersdeborah@bellsouth.net
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