A free imagination is a child's right

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

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."