www.citylifemagazine.ca City Life Magazine Apr/May 2013 49

Four years ago I threw out all the colouring books

in the house. As well, I respectfully asked my

friends and family to refrain from buying them

for my kids. Th is wasn’t a simple decision. Th ere

was always gleeful delight in a new box of crayons

and a fresh collection of black and white pictures waiting for

a splash of colour.

But with my three-year-old’s creativity and imagination on

the line, I decided to take a strong stand against them. My

decision arose when I witnessed the neighbour’s six-year-old

draw a cloud-fi lled sky scattered with stretched-out M’s. It

brought me back to my younger days when I too would draw

the same letter to signify fl ying birds. I found it interesting that

each one looked nothing like a bird.

It became apparent how these shortcuts in creativity could

take their toll on my kid’s imagination. Instead of blaming the

school’s failure to encourage innovation, I began asking how I, as

a parent, might be contributing to my child’s lack of creativity.

Was I choosing activities that allowed my child’s imagination

to be fully expressed, expansive and free?

Colouring books rob kids of the freedom to use their

unique imagination, to make mistakes and structure their ideas

visually. When children create something new, they must

make spatial considerations, build an understanding of form,

angles and perspective in a way that can never be captured

by fi lling in a line. Letting them draw from scratch calls on

the direct products of their imagination; this breeds boldness

and self-discovery.

Kids learn by trial and error, repeating experiments in form

and colour, texture and perspective. Almost none of which

will be discovered in a colouring book. Having your kid select

a colour and fi ll in some lines versus capturing their never-

before-seen ideas is not a hard decision. Which one creates

greater creative satisfaction and self-esteem? Th ose who defend

colouring books claim that children learn control, concentration

and refi ne their motor skills, but none of those benefi ts are

sacrifi ced when children draw and colour within the lines

they’ve created themselves. Drawing encourages autonomy;

colouring encourages following someone else’s rules.

It’s not just colouring books, it’s the dot-to-dot, paint-by-

number formats, too — anything that spoon-feeds a child

COLOURING BOOKS ROB KIDS OF THE FREEDOM TO USE

THEIR UNIQUE IMAGINATION, TO MAKE MISTAKES AND STRUCTURE THEIR IDEAS

VISUALLY

‘‘‘‘

— Rhea Lalla

A supporter of creativity and imagination in children, parenting coach Rhea Lalla challenges the conventional colouring book

THINK OUTSIDE THE LINES

How do you encourage your child’s creativity? Tweet us at @CityLifeToronto

50 City Life Magazine Apr/May 2013 www.citylifemagazine.ca

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what to think or do. Only in childhood are kids encouraged to

draw, colour and create. Once they’re older, they’re told to focus

on more “important” skills or they’ll never be able to support

themselves in a “real” job.

We’ve marginalized creativity while emphasizing rational

left-brain capabilities. We’ve determined that the artists,

designers and storytellers cannot enjoy the same success as those

who pursue the life sciences: math, physics or biology. Why else

would so many parents want their kids to be doctors?

But a seismic shift is taking place.

In this new era, good grades and left-brain thinking alone

will not open the best doors. To land a great job or create

entrepreneurial success, children will need to master creativity

and innovation. Increased automation of skills, outsourcing to

foreign countries and sheer abundance of information online

are ensuring that new skills are required to succeed. Th e role

of knowledge workers, such as lawyers and accountants, has

changed signifi cantly. With the Internet readily available,

many of their services can be downloaded easily and for free.

Th ese skills are already being outsourced to other countries that

off er cheaper labour. Medical schools are undergoing a massive

change. Columbia med students are required to take courses in

“narrative medicine.” Th ey’ve realized that storytelling classes

foster their ability to take on diff erent perspectives and create

deeper change when they weave a diagnosis into a story. Young

doctors must now take art, painting and acting classes to hone

their powers of observation, empathy and ability to notice

subtle details of a patient’s condition. Big business is looking

for visionaries: leaders who see a diff erent future. Kids that

can think outside the box, make unobvious connections and

apply their skills in disparate areas will be the visionaries of

tomorrow, solving global issues. Th e poet and the artist will be

just as likely to sit at the boardroom table making decisions

that shape the world.

Th e new intelligence is not IQ but CQ (Creativity Quotient),

and we rob our kids of it every time we ask them to confi ne

their minds to the rigid lines of a colouring book. Now, more

than ever, our kids need to be taught to value their ingenuity.

Instead of using past experience to solve a problem, they must

start seeing things from diff erent points of view to produce

original, unconventional responses. As grown-ups, our thinking

is already in danger of becoming obsolete. Can we see beauty

and brilliance in a crooked fi ve-wheeled truck driving along a

lopsided rainbow across a purple sky with fl ying fi sh? Are you

ready to make room for creativity in addition to logic? Will

you let your kids make up their own lines to colour inside? To

quote a version of what Pablo Picasso once wrote, “All children

are artists. Th e problem is how to remain an artist once the

child grows up.”

RHEA LALLAGUEST PARENTING EDITOR Rhea Lalla is a professional trainer, speaker and coach for parents who want to develop and hone their child’s genius. She offers private coaching, online courses and leads live seminars on building highly developed emotional, intellectual and creative skill sets in kids so that they achieve success in all areas of life. As a mother who values fun and ease, her strategies are simple, effective and achieve results. www.buildgreatminds.com