Free imagination is a child’s right
09 February 2004, by: 1001buku Media

The Jakarta Post, 23 Juli 2003

O Bunda, you are the moon That dances In my heart

O Ayah, you are the sun That pours warmth Into my heart

Ayah Bunda I love you Like I love Paradise

May Allah kiss my mother and father In His most beautiful garden One
day

Dated Aug. 7, 2002, the poem was written by Abdurrahman Faiz, 7, a
first grader in East Jakarta, because he wanted recognition and
admission into the Forum Lingkar Pena (FLP).

The FLP is an association of writers that within five years of its
existence has amassed more than 3,500 members and produced hundreds
of books.

The group has produced writers as young as Syamsa Hawa, Meldy Muzada
Elfa and Adzimattin Nur who had their books and short stories
published when they were as young as 13-years old.

Members range from Muthmainnah, who is working on her PhD on the
Middle East in Dundee, Scotland, and Izzatul Jannah, a busy mother of
three who produces four novels a year, to Sakti Wibowo, a former
baker who has written dozens of books and whose latest historical
novel, Tanah Hafara, (Asy Syaamil, 2003), is set during the Java War
between 1825 and 1830.

"Faiz wanted so much to be a member, and he wanted a FLP pin that I
usually wear on my headscarf that he wrote that poem," said Helvy
Tiana Rosa, the chairwoman of FLP and Faiz’s mother.

Helvy and her journalist husband, Tomi Satryatomo, surrounded Faiz
with books and other reading material and gave him a free rein of his
imagination since a very early age -- a sure recipe for bringing up
creative children, according to experts. Without such support,
children go to school and become uniform.

Those who do not believe this should observe children gathered
together - say, 10 elementary school students -- and ask them to
write a simple story about school or paint anything they would like
to draw. Chances are most of the children will plead for exemption
with their faces bunched up as if facing torture, or produce a
uniform drawing of twin peaks of a range of mountains with a yellow
sun squeezed between. A scrawny tree on the left might complete the
drawing.

This is not a matter of the children having no talent to write or
draw, but more the absence of the courage to try, and try something
different because "the teacher told me to draw like this".

Psychologist Ida Poernomo Sigit Sidi and activist Seto Mulyadi
believe it is the right of any child to develop their creativity.

"There are parents who do not understand what children’s creativity
is," Ida said. "They believe good children are those who do not do
anything different from other children, who just do what they are
told."

Ida suggested that parents learn about child development in order to
be more sensitive about the stages of growth that children go
through. Children around 3-years old were usually keen to explore
their world, try things on their own, and interact with people
outside of their parents.

"I am so thankful that more learning facilities are aware of the need
to encourage children’s creativity," Ida said. "More educators are
aware that some teaching methods must be revised to encourage
children to ask questions and express themselves.

"In addition, children today have greater freedom to ask questions
from their parents, have more access to books...," she said. "This
will help boost their creativity."

Seto Mulyadi, chairman of the National Commission on the Protection
of Children (Komnas PA) and chairman of Mutiara Indonesia Foundation
that has established a number of learning centers, agreed with
Ida. "All children are basically creative, they have the capacity to
be original, to come up with fresh ideas," he said. "This is such a
priceless capacity if only the family and the school give children
the opportunity to develop this potential."

One of the marks of a creative child was the courage to think
independently, to put forward ideas without feeling afraid of making
mistakes, and to not be uniform, Seto said. When left alone, children
dared to experiment with the urge to experiment -- the ocean is not
always blue for them, they may wish to draw it red or orange.

Another sign of creativity is the ability to imagine, to daydream,
Seto said. "The child may imagine flying. When the parent says no to
a pet, he or she may `create’ a pet cat of their own, that follows
them everywhere and that no one else but they can see."

Parents may not understand, and douse their child’s imagination with
cold water by telling them, "Stop telling tales, there’s no cat. Are
you crazy?" Such an environment creates uniform robots, not creative
children, Seto laments. "Also crippling is our culture that snatches
dolls away from boys and cars from girls, forcing them to conform to
(rigid sex roles)."

"Bright ideas are born from children who feel the freedom and are
psychologically secure. Parents should not be angry when children
want to paint the ocean red and the flowers black," Seto says. "Genes
may play the important role in a child’s intelligence, but it is the
environment that nurtures or stifles creativity in children."

Seto placed the blame on managers of many kindergartens who forced
children into reading and writing lessons in order to "prepare" them
for elementary school.

"Children are at their most creative stage when they are 4-and 5-
years old, and to subject them to highly structured learning sessions
is to kill their creativity.

"Both parents and teachers should think and take the side of our
children. We should not mold children into the curriculum, but create
a curriculum that adjusts to children’s growth," he said.

"A great nation is one that loves it children, so there should be
immense investment of time, money, thoughts and other resources to
provide children with an education that fosters creativity."

-Santi W.E. Soekanto and Ratih Sayidun, Journalists, Jakarta-