Secrets from Steven Spielberg – how to help your child to grow up happy and fulfilled.
As our children grow and reach milestones in their lives – their first birthday, starting nursery or school. We can’t help wondering – what will our children be when they grow up?
A doctor? A dancer? A dairy farmer?
Will they marry?
Will they be happy with their lot?
Or not?
Sometimes our children know from an early age what they are destined to do with their lives – just like Steven Spielberg – who made his first film at just twelve years old. For many people it can be a long, frustrating struggle, trying to figure out what to do with their life.
Some of us never discover our niche.
Never find true love.
Never build up the confidence to do what makes us happy.
And that is mighty sad.
So as a parent or carer, how can you help your children answer life’s big questions for themselves?
In a world where children constantly get told what to do by their parents, teachers, siblings and peers, carving out time for children to follow their intuition, is essential to them discovering future happiness.
As someone who has found incredible success following his intuition all his life, Steven Spielberg agrees:
“I’ve always said to my kids, the hardest thing to listen to is – your instincts, your human personal intuition – always whispers, it never shouts. It’s very hard to hear. So you have to, every day of your life, be ready to hear what whispers in your ear.”
Age sixteen, Spielberg was staying with family in California over summer break. Even at that age, he knew he wanted to direct films, so during a bus tour of Universal Studios he slipped out and hid in the toilets until the tour had moved on. After half an hour, Spielberg crept out and began to explore the studios, alone. Through the course of his adventure, he happened upon the Universal Studios Librarian. Impressed by Steven’s story, he issued him a three-day pass, which inspired Spielberg to chance his arm, at getting in without a pass for the proceeding weeks. He did it – he followed his instincts and discovered a place that to Spielberg, “felt more like home to me than my own house.”
Many Creation Station Franchise owners report back to us how they have found running classes, so much more fulfilling than their previous jobs.
So how do you help your child develop their gut instinct, especially if it’s such a significant factor in finding happiness in life? Well, we’ve come up with three practical ways for your kids to practice and experience using their intuition.
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Meditation
Steven Spielberg believes in the benefits of meditation. In fact, as a thirty-four-year-old director, he said, “I’m hoping in future to have more time for meditation, which I think will help my movie making.”
Practising making space for quiet time, when children can be calm and experience the voice inside them, prepares them for the times in their life when they desperately need to connect to their intuition.
There’s plenty of kid’s meditation books and recordings to choose from, however, we like A Handful of Quiet by Thich Nhat Hanh and The Children’s Mediations – In My Heart, a recording by Gitte Winter Graugaard.
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Acknowledge your child’s feelings
This one is simple, but deceptively difficult to pull off.
The trick is to acknowledge the child’s feelings, even if you don’t agree with them. A child’s feelings are the source of his or her gut instinct, so tread carefully with your words.
This is the best explanation we’ve found on how to acknowledge feelings: betweenparentandchild.com
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Exploratory arts and crafts
Creativity is about following your gut instinct towards what peaks your curiosity.
What colour do I make if I mix all the colours together?
What happens if I use more glitter?
Can I use the dog’s tail as a paint brush?
Practising arts and crafts at home or joining in the fun at Creation Station classes, parties or events, helps develop these essential instincts.
The Creation Station’s philosophy is all about giving the child freedom to find their own way. We’re not prescriptive, we provide the materials, the time and space. You provide the intuition and the imagination. Our classes start in September for the autumn term. If you’d like to find out more, go to our Facebook page and post your postcode and the age of your child and we’ll let you know where you’ll find your closest class.
So think of it this way. The next time your children engage in arts and crafts, practice meditation or have their feelings acknowledged, you’re developing in them an internal compass that whispers, “trust your feelings.” And that’s important, because one day, these instincts will be responsible for navigating them through life’s big questions, to finding a life that makes them happy and fulfilled.
If we can match your child with a Creation Station class, throw a fantastic arty party for your little one, or enhance your event (wedding or festival) then get in touch.
Enjoy Creative Fun 