Silly Business: Piper’s New Restaurant

Monday’s are always my busiest chore-doing days. The laundry always seems to pile up over the weekend. The house always needs to be vacuumed. If we didn’t go to the grocery store by Sunday, then that errand inevitably carries over to Monday. Usually I don’t go to the store until after I say goodnight to Piper. She kisses me and I tell her it’s time for “seepy seeps.”  If at all possible, I like to keep to our routine.

However, this last Monday I was frazzled. I just wanted to get it all done. So I just went to the store right after dinner. Luckily, it didn’t take that long, as I had a little surprise waiting for me when I got back to the house. Piper and her mother made a little restaurant in her room while I was gone. They had it all decked out. They used her little chalkboard for a menu, and got out her plastic stove set. They even gave it a name: The White Unicorn. I was blown away. What a fun and creative project, and Piper just loved it! She was so proud to show me what they had done. Unfortunately, it was too late when I got home for too many shenanigans. However, the next day I was able to have a “meal” in Piper’s new restaurant. And it was awesome.

As parents, my wife and I are very excited to see Piper being so creative. We both come from creative backgrounds ourselves: in a former life, I was a musician, and my wife is an artist. Her current endeavor is a series of collage paintings featuring guitars. They are all uh-mazing.

There are so many reasons why creativity is important for personal development. Self expression can help with stress management and anxiety. Also, the act of making something out of nothing inherently develops problem solving skills. If you work with others, like say a musician in a band, then you learn the importance of teamwork. It is a necessity to foster a strong sense of creativity in young people. They’ll never stop using these skills as they grow.

The very fact that you are reading this is because of my own creativity. Now, I didn’t invent blogging about parenting, or stay-at-home dad blogs. But this blog didn’t exist until I made it. And a lot of you are doing the same type of thing yourselves. Every night, I read other people’s blogs, and I get to see into their creative mindset. We are all learning things in new ways, from so many more people than we could have before. And all because of our collective creativity.

It is a wonderful age that we live in. Well, I’ve got to go. There’s a breakfast waiting for me at The White Unicorn.

What creative projects are you involved in these days? In what other ways can we foster creativity in young people today?