Stop Trying to Make Your Kids Creative

Parents are being sold creativity like it's a subscription box. Workshops, kits, frameworks, scripts: the message being that your kid needs more imagination and it's your job to install it. Austin Kleon, author of Steal Like an Artist and Don't Call It Art, has a different take: your kid already has it. The imagination, the playfulness, the willingness to not-know — it's all there. The question isn't how to give it to them. It's how to stop blocking it. And maybe, while we're here, how to get a little of it back ourselves.

Dr. Becky and Austin talk about what creativity actually needs to thrive (not a workshop), what so-called "problem kids" and great artists have in common, why your kid's obsession with garage doors is not a problem, the link between play and depression, the game that got Austin through the pandemic, and the teeth-brushing song Becky invented entirely by accident.

Read Dr. Becky’s ideas for how to be a playful parent when you don’t feel like playing (goodinside.com/blog/how-to-be-a-playful-parent…).

*

From the newborn days to the teen years, Good Inside (goodinside.com/?utm_source=podcast_gi&utm_…) now supports parents through every stage of childhood — with practical guidance for the moments that matter most.

Thank you to our partners for making this episode possible:

• Play-Doh (walmart.com/playdoh): Shop Play-Doh at Walmart for a summer of imaginative play

• Skylight (myskylight.com/becky): Get $30 off a 15-inch Skylight Calendar at myskylight.com/becky

• LMNT (partners.drinklmnt.com/free-gift-with-purchase…): Get a free gift with your purchase at drinkLMNT.com/goodinside (partners.drinklmnt.com/free-gift-with-purchase…)

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.