Parents key force in kids' creativity

JAKARTA (JP): The way most parents treat their children in this country is one of the main reasons why Indonesian children lack creativity, an education expert said yesterday.

Yauzak Akhmad, the director general of basic education at the Ministry of Education and Culture, said that Indonesian parents are too domineering and prone to telling children how to run their lives.

The attitude of those parents who always forbid, order and spoil their children will in turn inhibit their creativity, Yauzak said at a seminar to mark National Children's Day last Sunday.

Wealthy parents also tend to forbid their children from doing domestic chores and some even prevent them from working for money at young age, which, if encouraged, could instill entrepreneurship.

Most Indonesian parents, he added, still rear their children in the hope that they'll one day become a government worker.

Yauzak said the best way to raise creative children is to give them responsibilities and household chores at a young age.

He argued that instilling creative thinking should begin at home, rather than at schools.

The seminar yesterday, attended by kindergarten and elementary teachers, doctors and other experts, also discussed ways of raising healthy children.

Titi Sunarwati Sularyo, a pediatrician at the Jakarta Cipto Mangunkusumo hospital and a staff lecturer at University of Indonesia's School of Medicine, also pointed out the importance of proper nutrition.

Emotional support and intellectual stimulation will also improve a child's learning ability, she said. (05)