Article: Be open-minded in your thinking and find lots of solutions to many problems. Show your kids that you are flexible and willing to try new things. When faced with difficulty, show your kids that you can approach the problem in different ways and still be okay.  If your kids ask you a question, be creative in how you answer it. You can brainstorm different solutions with your child before answering the question. For instance, your child may ask, “Where does rain come from?” You can start to wonder together, “Well… it comes from the sky… what else comes from the sky? Could it come from that?” If your kid asks you how to draw a heart, show lots of different ways to draw a heart (like using straight lines, using dots, or drawing flowers in the shape of a heart), even including the anatomical way, then ask your child to think of some. Allow your child to have unstructured playtime where you do not interrupt, direct the play, or make suggestions. Choose toys for your children that don’t have one specific purpose but let your child find many uses.  Encourage activities like painting, drawing, and building. Avoid or have very few cause-and-effect toys, such as a jack-in-the-box or other pop-up toy. Don’t correct your child’s play unless there is obvious conflict. If your child says, “I’m bored”, set out some toys, and start a story line and have your child complete it. For instance, you can set up some dolls and say that they are traveling all over the world. Their first stop in in Prague, where do they go next? What places do they want to see? How long do they travel for, and how many countries do they visit? Have specific spaces for activities, especially messy activities.  Create an art space for your children where they can paint and make a mess without it affecting the whole house, or a dress up area where all clothes go. When it comes time for Christmas or birthday gifts, request art supplies, musical instruments, building materials, and costumes.  Repurpose things you have around the house: paper towel and toilet paper rods can become a sword or a sailboat. Challenge your children to make something using common household items like paper, wrappers, and wrapping paper tubes. Set aside time to brainstorm ideas of how to solve problems, create new activities, or make new things. Don’t judge, evaluate or talk about what may be plausible, but encourage the flood of ideas. Don’t choose the “best” idea. Focus on the process of idea generating, not the outcomes or evaluations.  Whenever something's lacking (i.e. you need to reach something but you don't have a ladder) have your kids think about ways they could solve the problem. Read a short story until the climax then stop.  Now ask your kids what they think happens next and how they would solve the problem. Kids that are afraid to fail or make a mistake may create obstacles for themselves in the creative process. Kids may also be afraid to judge their own work or have their work judged. Share your own failures with your child, and stress that it was okay and that it taught you something.  Practice coloring outside the lines with your child, coloring skin blue or purple, or other silly things to show that doing things differently is okay. If your child is upset about making a mistake, find creative alternatives to making it okay. If your child rips a page in a coloring book, repair the rip with stickers, or draw around the rip to make it fit in with the picture. Some parents find themselves caught in the closed question loop, such as, “That’s a nice flower, isn’t it?” or “That’ll be fun, won’t it?” Instead of asking questions that are closed, ask open ended questions that allow for creativity. Allow your child to answer creatively, as well. You can say, “Which is your favorite flower and why?” or “What do you think will be fun?” Allow your children to watch a minimum of tv or interact sparsely with screens like phones, computers,  or tablets, as too much screen time can lead to obesity, attention problems, emotional disturbances, and difficulties sleeping. Instead, encourage activities such as reading, listening to music, practicing drawing or rehearsing a play. Set a timer for your children when watching tv or use a tablet or phone, so they know that once the timer goes off, screen time is up. Incentives or too much force can interfere with creativity, and make the child try to guess what you want instead of exploring on their own. Instead of giving verbal praise such as “great job!” or “what a great painting!” praise the effort. Say, “I can tell you worked really hard on that.” or “Wow, you used many colors in your picture. How vibrant!”

What is a summary?
Be a role model. Nurture unstructured playtime. Provide resources. Generate ideas. Encourage mistakes and failure. Ask open-ended questions. Limit screen time. Focus on the process instead of the end result.