Think Like A Child
A growing body of research shows that children are naturally inquisitive and creative. However, schools have a way of educating kids right out of their curiosity and imagination. 1
A whopping 84% of children score high in creativity in kindergarten. But only 10% maintain that by the second grade. 2
The British government conducted a study and found that young people lost their ability to think in “divergent or non-linear ways,” a key component of creativity. 3
This sheds new light on what Jesus might have suggested when he said, “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” 4
I’m currently reading How To Get Ideas by Jack Foster and noted the following statements as a personal challenge to think like a child. 5
- “Children don’t have blockages because they don’t know about before, only now.
- “They break rules every time because they do not know the rules exist.
- “They stand up in the boat and rock it. They shout in church, play with matches and pound the piano wit their fists.
- “They paint trees orange and grass purple…They have a sense of wonder abut the things most of us take for granted. They ask and ask and ask.”
- As Neil Postman said, “They enter school as question marks and leave as periods.”
Our challenge is to become a question mark again.
Give yourself permission to ask questions and think new and creative thoughts.
1 Robert McGarvey “Creative Thinking” USAIR, June 1990, p. 36
2 http://people.goshen.edu/~marvinpb/11-13-01/Effects-of-Stereotypes.html
3 http://www.literacytrust.org.uk/Database/thinking.html#wither
4 The Bible: Matthew 18:3
5 Foster, Jack (2006). How To Get Ideas. San Francisco: Barrett-Koehler Publishers
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