How can creativity benefit your kids?

In a world where more and more young people end up on anti-depressants, what can we, as parents do, to try and prevent this?

There are many different reasons why kids (and adults) end up with low self-esteem and a feeling of negativity and hopelessness. One of the big ones is that technology has changed the way kids socialize and interact with each other, and this is impacting on their mental and emotional well being. While there is no one size fits all solution, we can definitely make a difference by encouraging our children to engage in more creative activities from a very early age.

Besides minimizing the time spent on gadgets, drawing and painting can help your kids (from very little to “teenagehood” and beyond) communicate their emotions and feelings. Through the use of different colors and mediums they can express themselves without using words.

Here are 8 more reasons to get your kids involved in creative activities

• Develops fine motor skills
• Allows them to develop both mentally and physically
• Encourages visual analysis
• Helps with concentration
• Improves hand-eye coordination
• Increases confidence
• Teaches creative problem solving
• Gets the left and right brain hemispheres working together, which helps with decision making

So as you can see, not only will it help to raise happy, positive, self-assured youngsters, there are many other benefits of getting your kids to engage with creative activities.