A creative person comes up with ideas that are both new and useful or effective. This definition implies that creativity is a good thing. In fact, it is often a good thing.
As a result of the pandemic, innovative ways of working, attending school, touring museums, attending concerts, and more were developed, not to mention the development of world-leading COVID-19 vaccines.
There are many benefits of creativity for both individuals and society as a whole. The dark side of creativity is also well documented.
Taking advantage of the disruption and fear caused by the pandemic, cybercriminals, for example, attacked countries, businesses, and institutions to steal information.
Consider how COVID-19 treatments hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin were promoted. Though some people gained from these novel treatment ideas – perhaps money, power, or reelection prospects – the drugs didn’t have any empirical support, and people who took them may have bypassed drugs that might have actually helped them.
Clearly, creativity isn’t always socially acceptable. In the modern age, teaching kids to be creative is not enough. Here, we share tips with parents and caregivers on how to minimize children’s negative forms of creativity and nurture their positive ones instead.
1. Determine the purpose of a new product or idea
Talk with your children about the purpose of innovations – their own or those they use on a regular basis. In addition to novelty and usefulness or meaning, evaluate the objectives in terms of their contribution to the common good. Creative thinking can be used for the inventor’s benefit but harm for others, similar to criminal hacking. But hacking is not inherently bad, unless you do it with the wrong intentions. Typically, ethical hackers use their creativity to help others.
Encourage kids to consider how they can achieve the common good rather than just what is good for them or their own team. Kids can use these discussions for their projects or activities, too. What positive impact will the project have on the world, even if only in a small way? If a child is writing a short story for class, might the readers be able to take something away from the short story that would be beneficial?
2. Look for unintended consequences
Explore different ways people can utilize a product or idea. Almost any idea or product can be positively used at one time or in one place while negatively affecting another. It may be a combination of the two at any given time. For example, social media outlets have made it possible for people to communicate, connect, and build communities in a way never before possible. Yet it is also possible for people to spread misinformation and hate via these outlets.
3. Take a long-term view
Talk about the long-term and short-term impacts of creative products and ideas. More than a century ago, plastic was seen as a miracle product because of its strength, flexibility, durability, and insulation. In modern society, plastic is often thrown away after one use. A plastic that doesn’t biodegrade breaks down into tiny pieces that can be toxic and ruin ecosystems.
4. Give examples of positive creativity
Together, parents and children can come up with examples of positive creative projects and ideas. Consider the creators of the idea came up with and how they influenced the lives of people. Contrast positive and negative examples. Security experts, for example, can use their training either to safeguard the information stored on people’s computers or to try to access the information.
5. Foster empathy and perspective-taking
Kids can learn empathy, perspective-taking, and creativity through books and other creative activities. Being creatively empathic involves feeling as someone else feels who you don’t know or only vaguely know. By taking multiple perspectives creatively, you put yourself in someone else’s shoes – perhaps someone of a different culture, race, or ethnic group, or a complete stranger – and ask why they might see a problem differently. In order to teach these skills, role-playing is a great option, as it involves actively taking part in a role rather than just passively reading about one.
Rather than merely creative, we believe the world’s best future belongs to those who are positively creative.