I want a box of crayons

Do you remember when
...you believed just about anything was possible?
...it was okay to colour a cow any colour of the rainbow?
...it was okay to have a wild imagination?

I tell myself that all the adults in my son's life will teach him about rules and how to follow them. Heck - I encourage a lot of rule following too. However, I also actively encourage his creativity (and mine) by engaging in the silliness and imagination that will hopefully help him retain this skill well into adulthood.

I see my peers having so much difficulty letting go of the rules - instead, they focus on the details of the what, where, why and how that would prevent success. If we focus on failure and how it won't work - how will we figure out the new formula for success? It is only in bending or breaking the rules, that the real creativity occurs. More often than not, we'll realize the answer was right under our noses and the only thing required to see it, was a box of crayons to jolt us into some rule-free thinking.

"Honey, let's continue drawing the adventures of Spooky-Piggy and Bungie-Man - what kind of trouble do you think they got into today?"