This emotional short animation shows how parents inadvertently stifle their children’s creativity

This short animated film really got to me.

Without speaking a single word, it illustrated how parents who think they are doing what is best for their children may inadvertently be training them to be uncreative.

Watch the short film in the video above.

Called Alike, it was directed by Daniel Martínez Lara & Rafa Cano Méndez and has won over 81 international awards. Originally released in 2015, it has since found a new lease of life after being shared extensively online, and now has over 6 million views on Youtube.

It tells the story of a father who works at a repetitive clerical job, who wants to set his son on the right journey in life.

But he doesn’t realise what this pressure is doing to his son until it’s nearly too late.

This is a story which unfortunately plays out far too often in everyday life.

Children go through school being taught the importance of only giving the right answers, and the end result is that they are also taught that being creative is actually a negative trait which should be avoided.

The result is that as children get older, their creative ability actually decreases dramatically.

And along with it, so does their self-confidence in their ability to come up with great ideas or willingness to try new things.

Parents have a vital role to play in helping their children develop.

Yes, school is important.

But so is the encouragement that it is ok to try new things, find things you are passionate about, and make lots of mistakes along the way.

After all, a desire to try new things is a core function of being able to innovate, be an entrepreneur, or develop your own creative skills.

So instead of telling a child everything they are doing wrong when they come up with something creative, you should instead encourage them to find ways for them to express their creativity.

There might be hiccups along the way, but much like it shows in the film, both of your lives will be filled with more colour along the way.

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Nick Skillicorn

Chief Editor, Founder & CEO at Improvides Innovation Consulting

Creativity & Innovation expert: I help individuals and companies build their creativity and innovation capabilities, so you can develop the next breakthrough idea which customers love. Chief Editor of Ideatovalue.com and Founder / CEO of Improvides Innovation Consulting. Coach / Speaker / Author / TEDx Speaker / Voted as one of the most influential innovation bloggers.

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