But I have since realized that it is really creativity that is breathing for me. Whether I'm writing as a reflection, making a faith lesson for the kids, teaching Liam the piano, or brainstorming for my hopeful YouTube debut in the Fall of 2017, all of this is creativity -- and all of this is life-giving for me. In other words, I need to create often in order to be happy.
If this desire to create is so deeply rooted into me, how can it not be in my children? This I pondered last night and from it I realized that I needed to give my son the same opportunities for creativity as I have newly begun giving myself.
When Vera is napping and I go upstairs to blog, why shouldn't Liam be just as creative as I'm being? And so, today I decided to nix the notion of "Quiet Time" and instead embrace it simply as "Liam's Time."
Today I charged him with the opportunity to "create something new that doesn't exist quite yet," and I armed him with several strips of masking tape, an empty tissue box, an empty paper towel roll, a paper plate, a pack of markers, and blank paper. I also reminded him of the wealth of books on the shelf that he could read if he wished, and I said that he was either welcome to work at his desk or get comfy in bed. Might he get bored? Possibly. But Boredom is the mother of Creativity.
Let's see what this next hour produces for each of us. :)
