Teaching Girls Imagination

Parents and teachers agree that imagination is sorely lacking in many of our children today. While there are several reasons for this, including too many games and programs that don’t sufficiently challenge the mind, there are simple ways to prevent this deficiency in your own daughter.

Early Imagination
When children are young, they seem to have boundless energy, enthusiasm and curiosity about life. This lust for living can be encouraged or stifled. While nobody would deliberately smother the creativity within a child, but avoiding questions, not playing make-believe games, and pushing children toward electric babysitters, causes exactly that.

Of course, many books, movies, and programs for children depict young people full of spunk and creativity, but it is far better for a child to find his own creativity than watch someone else’s. How to do this seems to be the main point some adults are missing. The solution is really quite simple.

Girls and Imagination
Girls and boys are fundamentally different. One gender is not better or even more creative than the other, but girls are perhaps more often misunderstood. Reckless curiosity in boys is welcomed, but sometimes discouraged in girls. This practice seems to be fading over time, which is definitely welcome, but there are specific ways to help girls rediscover or encourage the use of their imagination.

Teaching Imagination
Teaching imagination is much like teaching common sense. There is not a simple lesson or mantra to be memorized. It is something children must try and experiment with to fully understand.

Encourage Exploration
No matter a child’s age, encourage the child to find the answers they seek. The internet is a wonderful resource as are books and even the world around them. If it is a question you can answer, do so – even if you are in the middle of reading the paper or making dinner.

Seek Out Opportunities
Seek out chances to learn a new skill or think outside of the box. Rather than simply playing with a doll or having a tea party, find a paper doll website, like TheDollPalace.com to create virtual paper dolls. Assign the dolls personalities, and have them as guests at future tea parties or as characters in made up stories.

Play With Children
As obvious as it may seem, play with a child, and you can lead by example. Turn a box into a treasure chest or jump on the bed to escape the alligators on the floor. By the same token, with older children, find websites or games to play together. Again, online paper dolls from TheDollPalace.com might be the perfect solution. Take turns making dolls and creating backgrounds for each.

Not only will the additional time spent with children be rewarding for them, it will also be rewarding for you. Children have a way of shining a spotlight on what is most important in a situation or life in general. By encouraging the creative play of your girls, you will be opening an entire world to them. Help them find it and explore it together.