Creativity Means Dreaming Big

Dreaming Why Not by Shaw

 You see things and you say, “Why?” But, I dream things that never were, and I say, “Why not?” George Bernard Shaw

Do you dream? Do you encourage your children in their dreams? Dreaming is creativity in action, and critical to inspiring a lifelong love of learning in children. Too many are afraid of what others will think.

And they stop dreaming.

Can you imagine a world in which people were afraid to think, “Why not?” as Shaw suggests? Our technological advances would screech to a halt {gasp}, art would become mundane or nonexistent, and life would become boring. Children would cease to wonder and think.

If my goal is truly to inspire a lifelong love of learning in my children, then I need to encourage this freedom to dream. I need to dream alongside them. If they ask to try something unusual, I need to have the courage to be open to the mess {and potential disaster}, and say, “Why not?”

I owe it to my fledgling thinkers.

And so do you.

Try this. Print out the notebooking sheet below. Ask your little thinker what they think it means to dream “why not?” and either take their thoughts down as dictation or have them write themselves.

creativity Shaw Quote printable

Talk about their dreams, and instead of telling them that it’s nice that they want to be an archaeologist someday, tell them that archaeology is fascinating. Say, “Let’s go find out what it takes to become an archaeologist.” Then go to a museum, buy a book, download a video, visit a dig, or just play around on the web learning more about archaeology.

Now, try sharing some of your dreams with your kids. Think about when the last time was that you let yourself think, “Why not?”