Kids’ Creative Perspectives

I’m doing double duty this month during the A to Z Blogging Challenge. Here at Heather Erickson Author/Writer/Speaker, I will share ways to increase your creativity. I’ll also be doing the challenge at Facing Cancer with Grace, where I will share posts that focus on caregiving. I hope you’ll visit me at both sites. While you’re here, sign up for my email list. Today’s post is K is for Kids’ Creative Perspectives.

Single, Double, or King?

Our daughter, Emily, was a quiet, highly intelligent child. When she played, it was very grounded in reality. However, it was imaginative. For example, one day when she was about 4 years old, I saw her seated in the doorway which led to her room. She had a large box in front of her and a pad of Post-It notes. She sat patiently in silence. I asked her what she was doing. She told me that she owned this hotel and would I like to check in.

Curious, I said, “sure.”

She scrawled a number on a post-it and handed it to me. “Here you go. Room number three.”

It was the cutest thing. Other kids played fireman and movie star and she played hotel. She played hotel a lot!

To the Moon!

One day I was driving the kids somewhere in our family van. Emily sat in the seat behind me as I drove down the highway. She held a book in her hands looking from page to page. She said, “I never want to go to the moon.” With awe in her voice. “There are so many critters there.”

“Critters?” I asked. “What kind of critters?”

“Big critters, little critters; The moon is full of critters!” still with awe in her voice.

Within moments we’d arrived home and I opened up the van’s sliding door. “What on earth do you mean by critters?” I asked.

“These critters,” she said, pointing to the child’s encyclopedia. When I saw the moon’s craters, I laughed so hard. “Those are craters, not critters,” I explained. She didn’t understand why I was laughing like I was. To her, critters or craters, the moon was a scary place.

Perceptions of Kids

Kids see the world differently than adults do. In the process of growing up, we lose a little of that magic. Meditate on the things that you hear kids say. If you do this enough, you can recapture your own child-like imagination. What do they see when they are staring at the clouds? How does the grass feel as they run barefoot across it to get their Easter basket? Beyond the things kids say and fee are the coming of age realizations, too.

Miss Nikko’s Tears

When I was in the 6th grade I had the greatest teacher ever. In fact, she was the first person to see a writer inside of me. Miss Nikko actually read to our class—out loud, just like we were little kids. I think that she saw that even big kids needed to be inspired by stories. I’ll never forget when she read us, The Bridge to Terabithia. The especially amazing thing was when she cried as she read the sad parts. There was a sort of magic in her tears. She didn’t act embarrassed to feel the strong emotions that a good story elicits.Instead, she trusted us with her tears. Now, whenever a book makes me cry, I know it’s okay, because Miss Nikko cried, too.

That Cancer Dragon.

A beautiful and tragic example of looking through a child’s eyes can be found in the immersive experience of a “game” called That Cancer Dragon. It was created by the father of a child who had cancer. He eloquently puts you in his shoes but also shows how his son felt as he went through treatment. If you want to have your heart torn out and be inspired at the same time, I highly recommend checking it out. It’s available on the steam platform.

Kids’ Quotes & Questions

Looking at life through a kid’s eyes can really be an adventure. It can also be a great way to think creatively. When we write from an adult’s point of view, ours is often blended in. When you think about what it’s like to be a kid and hear things with a kid’s short breadth of life experience, It is really altered. Try to recapture those moments of wonder. Spend time with children of various ages. Learn how the brain of a child develops. http://amzn.to/2DKkhmT It’s really quite amazing! Write a short story from a kid’s point of view—then change the kid’s age and write it again. How do things change? Try to remember pivotal moments in your life and how your thinking has changed since then.
When you think like a child for a while, you can’t help but be open to the wonders of this world.

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What are YOUR thoughts?

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About Heather Erickson

I am an author, writer, and speaker and homeschooling mom of 3. Since doctors diagnosed my husband, Dan with stage IV lung cancer in 2012, I’ve focused my writing and speaking on helping cancer patients and their families advocate for themselves and live life to the fullest, in spite of their illness. My goal is to help people face cancer with grace.

My books The Memory Maker’s Journal and Facing Cancer as a Friend: How to Support Someone Who Has Cancer, are available at Amazon.com.

I also blog about living with cancer at, Facing Cancer with Grace.