Fostering creativity in youngsters.

With television providing pictures, calculators doing math, and computers doing thinking and even art, the challenge to raise one's offspring to think creatively is greater than ever. Yet, children are born with a natural curiosity and creativity which parents can learn to encourage easily, notes Wanda Draper, a child development expert at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center.

"The number one concern for parents should be to help their child maintain a sense of wonder. That is the pathway to creativity. If a [youngsterl can continue to see the world in different ways through the first five or six years, that child will be a better problem-solver as an adult, because he or she will have the ability to see different options in life. The creative child also usually grows up to be healthier emotionally. That's because people who can see alternatives are much less susceptible to depression."

From age two to seven is the prime time for kids to learn to think creatively, because during this time they are naturally curious and in a "high fantasy" mode. Parents should take care not to squelch these tendencies. For instance, "If your child makes up a long story or exaggerates something that happened that day, and the parent says Stop lying on a regular basis, this can cause the child to stop fantasizing entirely. Children that age aren't consciously lying, they are simply [inventing] adventures through fantasy that they do not have in everyday life."

To encourage creativity, Draper suggests giving youngsters blank construction paper...