Imagination in children is the second blog in a series about raising children. To reiterate I don’t have a BS on the topic. What I do have is hands on experience in having raised two children, who turned out rather well.

                                                     Imagination and Play

There is nothing more entertaining than watching a child use his or her imagination at play time. How many of us did the same thing when we were young?  I’ll take a leap and say we all did, as did our parents. I can recall my two children spending hours using their imagination to entertain themselves, be it with their friends or just them.

Imaginary play today might be altered some due to the discussion of guns and violence. However, I’m sure some children out there still play bad guys against good guys, where imaginary weapons prevail. Name a toy and one can come up with hours of pure fun, where using an imagination came in quite handy.

One of those toys is Lego’s. There are just some toys that will  always be in the forefront of  nourishing minds and allowing children’s imaginations to just go wild. Building and creating structures can lead to a future where one might decide to pursue it as a career path. My children, especially my son, would spend days working on his Lego’s.

My daughter, however, would draw pictures and write stories. The most talented fiction writers were the ones who had the most vivid imaginations early on. Imagination can take many routes. Whether it be boys or girls, a child’s imagination needs to be nurtured, not squashed.

Unfortunately, there are parents out there today who feel we need to keep kids in the here and now. Make believe is for those children who need it because they don’t have the capacity to think more complex thoughts and ideas. Well, that’s a lot of bull, in my opinion.

Structuring your child’s play to the point where they can’t be creative and use their imagination is limiting the scope for their future endeavors. So many careers our kids pursue, need a certain amount of thinking outside of the proverbial box. That part of the brain, if not used to imagining and thinking when young, in my opinion, will be short of creating from an imaginary point when older.

Let make-believe be a part of your child’s experience. It does require time and thought. Who’s to say your son or daughter won’t be the next Bill Gates or writer Tom Clancey?  The imagination can be a wonderful thing.