Creativity and ResilienceResilience

Jamlick Bosire

Early Childhood Development and Education Specialist

““As a specialist, Jamlick As a specialist, Jamlick develops resources, develops resources,

provides training and provides training and professional consultancy to professional consultancy to national and international national and international

audiences on best practices audiences on best practices to raise up a child with a to raise up a child with a

future.” future.” ojamlick@yahoo.comojamlick@yahoo.com

It is important that you understand It is important that you understand children if you want to help them. children if you want to help them. Children are individuals with Children are individuals with different needs and experiences. To different needs and experiences. To be an effective caregiver, it is be an effective caregiver, it is necessary to appreciate this.necessary to appreciate this.

“No child is, or can be, invulnerable to emotional or physiological stress. Where adversities are continuous and extreme, and not moderated by factors external to the child, creativity and resilience will be very key to the child’s ability to cope with these situations.”

Creativity Creativity

• 'Creativity is about liberating human energy (Gardner, 1993)

• Creativity is coming up with something new e.g. a product, solution, art work, literary work, joke etc. that has some kind of value.

• Creativity is fluency and flexibility of thinking, originality, perceptiveness of problems, and the ability to redefine and elaborate ideas (Guildford, 1950).

Resilience Resilience

The general meaning of resilience is derived from its Latin roots; 'to jump or leap back' which is the ability to recover from or adjust easily to misfortune, adversity or change.

Sources of creativitySources of creativity

* Ensuring continuous enrichment of the environment;

* Providing creative programs for developing divergent thinking; and

* Availability of caregivers/teachers who think or present knowledge in new ways.

Sources of resilienceSources of resilience

Grotberg (1994) reveals that children draw from any one of three sources of resilience features described as: I have, I am & I can.They are discussed separately below.  

I have factors:I have factors:

The I HAVE factors are the external supports and resources that promote resilience. Before the child is aware of who she is (`I AM') or what she can do (`I CAN'), she needs external supports and resources to develop the feelings of safety and security that lay the foundation, that are the core, for developing resilience.

The resilient child for example confidently says that:

 I Have..........

i) People around me I trust and who love me, no matter what

ii) People who set limits for me so I know when to stop before there is danger or trouble.

iii) People who show me how to do things right by the way they do them.

iv) People who want me to learn to do things on my own..

v) People who help me when I am sick, in danger or in need to learn.

I am factorsI am factors

The I AM factors are the child's internal, personal strengths. These are feelings, attitudes, and beliefs within the child. The resilient child for example says ...

 I AM:

i) A person people can like and love

ii)  Glad to do nice things for others and show my concern-

iii) Respectful of myself and others-

iv) Willing to be responsible for what I do

v)  Sure things will be all right- The child is filled with hope, faith, and trust.

I can factorsI can factors

The I Can factors are the child's social and interpersonal skills. Children learn these skills by interacting with others and from those who teach them. The resilient child says I can......

i)  Talk to others about things that frighten me or bother me

ii) Find ways to solve problems that I face

iii) Control myself when I feel like doing something not right or dangerous

iv) Figure out when it is a good time to talk to someone or to take action v)  Find someone to help me when I need it

Types of creativityTypes of creativityLinguistic creativity – where one can be said to have a flair or gift with words such as lyricists, writers, poets etc.

Logical-Mathematical – where one is exceptionally good with logical and mathematical concepts and can usually explain complex concepts in a manner lay-men can easily understand.

Musical – where one is gifted in composing music and or playing musical instruments.

Visual-Spatial – here is where creativity is expressed in art – paintings, drawings, sculptures etc.

Bodily-Kinaesthetic – here creativity is expressed through body movements such as dance, gymnastics, acrobatics etc.

Types of resilienceTypes of resilience

Type One Resilience: The first type is represented by children who do not succumb to adversities, in spite of their high risk status, for example low birth weight babies.

Type Two Resilience: Type two concerns children who develop coping strategies in situations of  chronic stress, such as children of drug using or alcoholic parents.

Type Three Resilience: It encompasses children who have suffered extreme trauma, for example through disasters, sudden loss of a close relative or abuse, and who have recovered and prospered may be described as resilient.

Significance of creativitySignificance of creativity

Creativity help children to become successful adults who can question the accuracy of information and put information to constructive use.

Involvement of children in creative activities has been found to reduce dropout rates and to improve student motivation.

Mental health practitioners have also discovered that creative activities can serve to safeguard children from stress

Significance of resilienceSignificance of resilience

Resilience enables children to develop social competence, problem solving techniques, autonomy, a sense of purpose and a critical consciousness.

Social competenceSocial competence

Social competence

Includes qualities such as responsiveness, especially the ability to elicit positive responses from others; flexibility, including the ability to move between different cultures; empathy; communication skills; and a sense of humor. 

Problem solvingProblem solving

Problem-solving skills

encompass the ability to plan; to be resourceful in seeking help from others; and to think critically, creatively, and reflectively.

Autonomy Autonomy

• Autonomy- is having a sense of one's own identity and an ability to act independently and to exert some control over one's environment, including a sense of task mastery, internal locus of control, and self-efficacy.

Children develop in social setting.Children develop in social setting.

• Care giving is a Care giving is a powerful predictor of powerful predictor of creativity and creativity and resilience.resilience.

Creativity and resilience in fCreativity and resilience in familyamily

Mutual and frank expression of feelings and clear communication between family members to solve their problems are key factors. Begin in early years.arly years.

Troubled familiesTroubled families

A troubled family can indeed inflict considerable harm on its children, but resilient people are challenged by such troubles to experiment and respond actively and creatively. Their pre-emptive responses to adversity, repeated over time, become incorporated into their inner selves as lasting strengths.

Creativity and resilience at schoolCreativity and resilience at school

‘‘The best education The best education has creativity at its has creativity at its heart.’ heart.’ House of House of Commons Education Commons Education and Skills Committee, and Skills Committee, 20072007

Creativity and resilience with peersCreativity and resilience with peers

It is common knowledge that peers influence others to do things they might not do on their own and also discourage others from being creative and resilient in the name of conforming.

Protective factors within the communityProtective factors within the community

Children are socialized in family and school. Children are socialized in family and school. However, community is also important. It has However, community is also important. It has profound influence on the “lives” of families profound influence on the “lives” of families and schools. Capacity of community to build and schools. Capacity of community to build resilience is called community competence.resilience is called community competence.

Community ParticipationCommunity Participation

• Cross-cultural studies have shown that Cross-cultural studies have shown that “youth participation in socially and/or “youth participation in socially and/or economically useful tasks is associated with economically useful tasks is associated with heightened self-esteem, enhanced moral heightened self-esteem, enhanced moral development, increased political activism development, increased political activism and the ability to create and maintain and the ability to create and maintain complex social relationships (Kurth-Schai, complex social relationships (Kurth-Schai, 1988).”1988).”

“Resilience is accepting your new reality, even if it's less good than the one you had before. You can fight it, you can do nothing but scream about what you've lost, or you can accept that and try to put together something that's good.” ― Elizabeth Edwards

• “There comes a time in your life, when you walk away from all the drama and people who create it. You surround yourself with people who make you laugh. Forget the bad and focus on the good. Love the people who treat you right, pray for the ones who do not. Life is too short to be anything but happy. Falling down is a part of life, getting back up is living.” ― José N. Harris

“Don't be satisfied with stories, how things have gone with others. Unfold your own myth.” ― Rumi, The Essential Rumi

Creativity is not only in-born; it can also be instilled if the right environment is provided. Research has shown that creativity is a skill that caregivers can help children develop.

Resilience is a basic human capacity (innate), nascent (growing) in all children. Parents and other care givers promote resilience in children through their words, actions, and the environment they provide.

Jamlick BosireJamlick BosireNew Horizon Consultancy ServicesNew Horizon Consultancy Services

P. O. Box 1675-80200, Malindi- KenyaP. O. Box 1675-80200, Malindi- Kenyaojamlick@yahoo.comojamlick@yahoo.com