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www.citylifemagazine.ca City Life Magazine Apr/May 2013 49
Four years ago I threw out all the colouring books
in the house. As well, I respectfully asked my
friends and family to refrain from buying them
for my kids. Th is wasn’t a simple decision. Th ere
was always gleeful delight in a new box of crayons
and a fresh collection of black and white pictures waiting for
a splash of colour.
But with my three-year-old’s creativity and imagination on
the line, I decided to take a strong stand against them. My
decision arose when I witnessed the neighbour’s six-year-old
draw a cloud-fi lled sky scattered with stretched-out M’s. It
brought me back to my younger days when I too would draw
the same letter to signify fl ying birds. I found it interesting that
each one looked nothing like a bird.
It became apparent how these shortcuts in creativity could
take their toll on my kid’s imagination. Instead of blaming the
school’s failure to encourage innovation, I began asking how I, as
a parent, might be contributing to my child’s lack of creativity.
Was I choosing activities that allowed my child’s imagination
to be fully expressed, expansive and free?
Colouring books rob kids of the freedom to use their
unique imagination, to make mistakes and structure their ideas
visually. When children create something new, they must
make spatial considerations, build an understanding of form,
angles and perspective in a way that can never be captured
by fi lling in a line. Letting them draw from scratch calls on
the direct products of their imagination; this breeds boldness
and self-discovery.
Kids learn by trial and error, repeating experiments in form
and colour, texture and perspective. Almost none of which
will be discovered in a colouring book. Having your kid select
a colour and fi ll in some lines versus capturing their never-
before-seen ideas is not a hard decision. Which one creates
greater creative satisfaction and self-esteem? Th ose who defend
colouring books claim that children learn control, concentration
and refi ne their motor skills, but none of those benefi ts are
sacrifi ced when children draw and colour within the lines
they’ve created themselves. Drawing encourages autonomy;
colouring encourages following someone else’s rules.
It’s not just colouring books, it’s the dot-to-dot, paint-by-
number formats, too — anything that spoon-feeds a child
COLOURING BOOKS ROB KIDS OF THE FREEDOM TO USE
THEIR UNIQUE IMAGINATION, TO MAKE MISTAKES AND STRUCTURE THEIR IDEAS
VISUALLY
‘‘‘‘
— Rhea Lalla
A supporter of creativity and imagination in children, parenting coach Rhea Lalla challenges the conventional colouring book
THINK OUTSIDE THE LINES
How do you encourage your child’s creativity? Tweet us at @CityLifeToronto
50 City Life Magazine Apr/May 2013 www.citylifemagazine.ca
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what to think or do. Only in childhood are kids encouraged to
draw, colour and create. Once they’re older, they’re told to focus
on more “important” skills or they’ll never be able to support
themselves in a “real” job.
We’ve marginalized creativity while emphasizing rational
left-brain capabilities. We’ve determined that the artists,
designers and storytellers cannot enjoy the same success as those
who pursue the life sciences: math, physics or biology. Why else
would so many parents want their kids to be doctors?
But a seismic shift is taking place.
In this new era, good grades and left-brain thinking alone
will not open the best doors. To land a great job or create
entrepreneurial success, children will need to master creativity
and innovation. Increased automation of skills, outsourcing to
foreign countries and sheer abundance of information online
are ensuring that new skills are required to succeed. Th e role
of knowledge workers, such as lawyers and accountants, has
changed signifi cantly. With the Internet readily available,
many of their services can be downloaded easily and for free.
Th ese skills are already being outsourced to other countries that
off er cheaper labour. Medical schools are undergoing a massive
change. Columbia med students are required to take courses in
“narrative medicine.” Th ey’ve realized that storytelling classes
foster their ability to take on diff erent perspectives and create
deeper change when they weave a diagnosis into a story. Young
doctors must now take art, painting and acting classes to hone
their powers of observation, empathy and ability to notice
subtle details of a patient’s condition. Big business is looking
for visionaries: leaders who see a diff erent future. Kids that
can think outside the box, make unobvious connections and
apply their skills in disparate areas will be the visionaries of
tomorrow, solving global issues. Th e poet and the artist will be
just as likely to sit at the boardroom table making decisions
that shape the world.
Th e new intelligence is not IQ but CQ (Creativity Quotient),
and we rob our kids of it every time we ask them to confi ne
their minds to the rigid lines of a colouring book. Now, more
than ever, our kids need to be taught to value their ingenuity.
Instead of using past experience to solve a problem, they must
start seeing things from diff erent points of view to produce
original, unconventional responses. As grown-ups, our thinking
is already in danger of becoming obsolete. Can we see beauty
and brilliance in a crooked fi ve-wheeled truck driving along a
lopsided rainbow across a purple sky with fl ying fi sh? Are you
ready to make room for creativity in addition to logic? Will
you let your kids make up their own lines to colour inside? To
quote a version of what Pablo Picasso once wrote, “All children
are artists. Th e problem is how to remain an artist once the
child grows up.”
RHEA LALLAGUEST PARENTING EDITOR Rhea Lalla is a professional trainer, speaker and coach for parents who want to develop and hone their child’s genius. She offers private coaching, online courses and leads live seminars on building highly developed emotional, intellectual and creative skill sets in kids so that they achieve success in all areas of life. As a mother who values fun and ease, her strategies are simple, effective and achieve results. www.buildgreatminds.com