Sunday, November 02, 2008

The Creative One



All kids are different... and all have special skills. It's just that sometimes Benjamin's skills are not the ones that are appreciated. It is easy to praise a child for writing, reading, or excelling in school, but it is harder to put a measure on creativity. Whatever the measure, Benjamin must have it in spades. A couple of examples -

At lunch at a pizza restaurant, Benjamin fashioned a beautiful bracelet for me - out of two toothpicks, a rubber band and a Coke bottle label.

The boys got very quiet - too quiet - this afternoon. I found them in my scrapbooking supplies, and Benjamin had created and taped (!) a Darth Vader mask to his head.

As the resident toy expert, I can say that it is almost impossible to shop for him because he doesn't do anything "traditional" or in the way in which it was anticipated. I think for Christmas, he would be happiest with a pile of couch cushions and some string...

I remember these creativity classes from my time at Stanford - I didn't take one, but they always sounded like fun - like when you get three drinking straws, some string, a rubber band and an egg, and then you have to make something that moves by itself... or when you have to make something that dynamically creates a work of art. Benjamin will be the guy you want on your team - you might even want to sign him up right now!

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