The society is a cruel judge, there is no denying it. There are norms and there are rules. One follows them if they want to be a part of society. Or one could follow their heart and risk being an outcast. Parents impose their ideas and beliefs on a child from a young age, ensuring the kids ‘fits’ well into the society’s definitions of what is right and what is wrong. Then comes school.
Unfortunately, the schooling system does not set much store by creative talents, such as those in art, music or writing. There are perceived as hobbies, to be pursued in leisure time, not something that will help you make a living. That leisure time is, however, a mirage. The system tries to fit every child into one mold… designed by it. Somewhat like this cartoon.
In this whole process, what happens to the stories – the countless stories that each child has within its imagination? Stories which need to be given wings. Stories which teach them life skills, which contribute to their EQ. Research has shown that children who grow up with stories are more likely to be empathetic listeners, and connect and identify with people better. These children do not become robots when they grow up. Such children are also capable of mixing reality and imagination perfectly to create their own perceptions of the world, making them potential problem-solvers of the future.
Do we need more engineers, accountants, doctors in future? Or do we need creative problem-solvers? It’s a decision the current generation of parents need to take.
Here is an award-winning short film, created by Madrid-based animators Daniel Martínez Lara & Rafa Cano Méndez, which perfectly portrays what happens when we force our kids to put aside their imagination, their creativity and push them into the grind-mill of a 9-7 workday, draining their lives of all ‘color’ and killing all the stories that they see around them.
