Q: We noticed while we were home schooling our son during the pandemic that he is a daydreamer. If we did not stay on top of him almost constantly, he was drifting off to Never-never Land. It must drive his teachers crazy.
I get solace from the idea that daydreamers have a knack for creativity that others lack.
Is this true? If it is, then I think we should back off, let our son fantasize his conquests of the universe and watch him grow into unending creativity.
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Or is it that too simple?
A: You have got part of it right. The less that kids have to do, either in the classroom or when they are doing their assignments on the kitchen table, the more likely it is that they will be distracted and spend more time daydreaming.
Our studies confirm this. But that is where it ends.
So far, the research is saying that being distracted does not mean being creative. Kids who are easily distracted are not necessarily creative. Neither are they not creative.
Being distracted and being creative are two different things.
What is often overlooked is that being creative is a high energy responsibility. Think of those who are recognized internationally for their creativity. Robert Frost, that great American poet, owned and operated five farms even before he even had a John Deere tractor to help him.
Of course, all of his farms went broke. He couldn’t keep up. But he tried and every now and then he would stop what he was doing, write another poem to finance his failing farms, and then get back at whatever was being demanded by one of the five farms.
Albert Einstein would lock himself in the attic on the weekend after he got home from work at the patent office and scribble away for hours until he finally got it right — the theory of relativity.
Can you imagine the energy that came out of that attic when Einstein was working away up there?
The Beatles practised and practised daily, putting out album after album, putting on concert after concert, until they wore themselves out and broke up their band. Their highest moment of creativity was when they were the busiest.
Even in the midst of his insanity, Van Gogh painted his way out of a psychiatric institution, painting the whole time he was there and continuing to do so in a studio he rented by the sea.
Have I convinced you yet? Creativity goes along with high energy. The more enthused you and your husband are about life and living, the more enthused your son will become and the more enthused he becomes, the less likely he will be distracted and the more likely he will be creative.
Jacklin Andrews is a family counsellor from Saskatchewan. Contact: jandrews@producer.com.
