All of our boys love the YouTube channel called“Dude Perfect” With 56.9 million subscribers it easy to see the draw. This group of 5 best buds do some amazing trick shots from a wide range of products like ping pong balls, fidget spinners, nerf guns, water bottles and RC cars among many other things.
Right before Christmas break this year we were surprised with a video that our boys put together with the help of Maria, our beloved teacher. Although the video was extremely humorous to our family, I noticed so much of their free lifestyle that’s grown into their creativity.
Coleen and I put a lot of emphasis on raising children that are imaginative, and creative. Creativity doesn’t come easy to everyone (some of us have it hidden under things like fear) but it can be learned and I do believe that it is inside us all. We all have been created to be creative!
1. REMOVE THE BARRIERS - Get ready… brace yourself! Yes, turn the TV off, game systems, phones, ipads, electronic devices and anything that steals yours and their attention. These barriers affect our children in so many ways and stifle more than just their creativity.
2. SEND THEM OUT TO PLAY - Coleen has a saying around our house that all the boys know well, “Mama loves dirty boys” the message she is sending is go out get dirty, play hard, splash in the puddles, be wild and free. This back fired on her a couple years back when all our boys got into a huge mud fight… they all walked up to her and said, “remember mama… you love dirty boys” But in all seriousness play is so important in the development of creativity.
3. SET THEIR IMAGINATION FREE - Reading is a great way to practice using imagination. It kind of happens naturally as your brain fills in visual elements of a story. One of our family favorite books are the C.S. Lewis Chronicles of Narnia. Not all our boys are super ecstatic about reading so I read to them all before bed. Another way of setting their imaginations free is attentive listening to their wild stories and adventures they are having. I know its hard for our adult minds but engage them when they tell you how big of a worm they found in the garden
4. PLAY WELL WITH OTHERS… IMAGINATION BUILDS IMAGINATION - I was a very imaginative kid growing up… On any given day you could find me in our backyard in an imaginative world. To this day I can easily tap into my imagination and it has served me so well with product creation, business development, marketing creative campaigns and even our family adventures. When we started our adopting journey we as a family tried to imagine what it would be like… This act of group imagination builds ideas and confidence. I remember as a kid having my group of best buds and we built forts and would imagine epic battles. As we built the fort my buddies imaginations helped in the formation of greater ideas.
5. PRETEND WITH THEM - This is probably one of the most powerful ways to develop imagination. When you pretend with them you are teaching them how to imagine and its importance/acceptance. This is the foundation for dream building! It takes all 4 previous ways and wraps them into one very powerful teacher. By pretending with them you remove barriers (you will easily win their attention), you are in control of the play and set their imagination free, and build things with your imagination together!
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** FUN FACT**
A study conducted by Dr. Biasiotto at the University of Chicago was done where he split people into three groups and tested each group on how many free throws they could make.
After this, he had the first group practice free throws every day for an hour.
The second group just imagined themselves making free throws.
The third group did nothing. After 30 days, he tested them again.
The first group improved by 24%.
The second group improved by 23% without touching a basketball!!!!
The third group did not improve which was expected.
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Imagination leads to creativity, and creativity leads to dreaming, and dreaming… That’s the stuff that takes you to the moon and beyond!
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WHO IS HOLTZ LEATHER?
Coleen and I became boyfriend and girlfriend at a very young age (13 to be exact)... We got married at 16. That's legal in Alabama… (just kidding we waited a couple more years)
We have 11 Children! (Yes, I said 11). We have 6 bio's and 5 Adopted children from Costa Rica
We make every single product in our factory here in Huntsville, Alabama!
No shortcuts, only the best in materials and a whole lotta of hard work!
We are not a big box store which means we fight hard against competition and specifically cheap imports.
I believe it matters more today than ever that you know who you buy from and how they source their products!
#SUPPORTSMALL
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