Creativity and time

Just a short post today on creativity and the time needed for it to happen.

So often I see parents take their kids to the park and 20 minutes later are leaving with a screaming toddler who isn't finished. I know life is fast and usually very busy but 20 minutes is not enough time for a young child to get into something - I mean really get into something.

When we go - as we did this morning- I make sure we have 2 hours. We don't always use this much time and sometimes we even run over but as a guide 2 hours is about right for our trip. The first thing to note is that it is not a race to get to the climbing frame. Often the journey is as important as the destination and this runs true for our trips to the park. We are lucky to have small woodland trails to walk down to reach the playground so the boys often spend 20 or 30 mins walk here stumbling over tree roots or collecting hidden treasures. By the time we reach the play area they usually want a drink and to sit in the sand and play with their toy cars or spades. after another 15 - 30 mins they are ready to climb and run around after the pigeons before heading to the pet corner to look at the animals. When that's all been done they have another slide or swing before heading down another path back home. 

In this time I see them experiencing several moments. They have high impact time where they use a lot of energy followed by quiet time where they develop their finer motor skills followed by more interactive time socializing with other children in the park. 

Today my eldest son was playing with a couple of other children with leaves and then it started to rain. As I called him to shelter until the worst passed I saw them all holding leaves over their heads running around shouting 'look my leaf umbrella, mummy!'

Priceless and worth every second of my time.