I consider myself a creative person, but one of the most humbling lessons I learned in an improv class was when I had to walk around the room naming objects using only gibberish.
You would think this was easy..just walk around babbling nonsense. My jaw froze and my brain drew a blank when I looked at a chair and didn't know what to call it. I am so hardwired to form words as a communicator, that the "freedom" to call an object whatever I wanted was paralyzing. Can anyone else relate?
I am still trying to forgive myself for only being able to come up with a few non-sensical syllables that referred to 4 objects at most. I felt defeated. This inability to just make sounds hung over me for the night. I was still thinking about the failure the next day in the shower. I decided I would have to figure out a sound I could figure out to stick to moving forward, and just go with it. There was no rule that I had to use multiple sounds. The next time I had to use gibberish (which can be frequent in improv) I would utilize various versions of "blah blahbiddy blah blah blah."
As the 6 week class progressed I actually found that I didn't need to use my own hack. Just having that backup gave me the permission to make whatever sound I wanted, and the gibberish started coming easier. By finding a rule, I had somehow given my brain permission to be more creative.
Why am I telling this story? Because it occurred to me that maybe the flexibility I had learned in Improv class might help my son. If there is a black and white thinker who needs to be a little more flexible in his brain, that would be my son. Linear thinking, difficulty with flexibility, reliance on routine, these can all be common in ADHD. With this particular kid, once he knows something in his head, that is a hill he will die on. This last week I set out on a journey to see if I could help him build non-linear "out of the box" thinking by building is tolerance for gibberish. Here's how it went:
Method: Short intervals of gibberish challenges to be performed on the way to and at the bus stop.
Day 1: I challenged him to rename a mailbox using only gibberish. He was a little confused, so I re-explained. After a few seconds, he blurted out, "Tra lalalalalaal," wagging his tongue around like a giant goofball. I challenged him to rename a lamp post and a branch. It struck me that all of his gibberish language ended in "lalalalalaaal" with the crazy tongue wagging. When I asked him he said, "that's the only sound I can think of."
Huh, I thought to myself. We giggled our way up the hill to the bus stop until he reminded me that we were now in front of other people and should stop being goofy.
Day 2: I asked my son if he remembered what he named yesterday. Nope, no memory, but he remembered what we did and was already giggling. I asked if he could rename grass. His response was, "Squabadibida." No hesitation, and no ending with a lalalalalala and weird tongue flapping. I consider this progress.
Bonus: He asked me what I thought of the word "dephlamorganizer." I told him it sounded like an amazing invention and asked him what it did. He said you had it put batteries in it and then it amplified the strength so that it would be the equivalent of of 10 batteries.
Extra Bonus: He told a mom at the bus stop about it, who asked him how it was spelled. This sparked a silly discussion about utilizing an "f" vs a "ph" and why there are so many silent letters in English spellings. So not only did he think outside of the box, he was able to use that creativity to build a connection to another person.
Day 3: He struggled this morning. When I asked him what he would rename a leaf, his response was "fralalalalala." I had the worst response: I said no, not to use the "lalala" sound. I had a bozo moment, and stifled him. When I asked him to then try renaming a car, he said he couldn't think of anything, told me to go first. Realizing my mistake, I asked him to try again, it was ok if he used the same syllables at the end, and he called it a "schwalalalala."
Lessons learned: Sometimes with our best intentions we stifle creativity and growth. Also, fear of failure has a significant impact on our ability to be creative.
Day 4: Kiddo was getting bored, and when I asked him to rename trees with gibberish...he came up with "Avadabra." That sparked his memory of Harry Potter and Avadacadavra, which I reminded him is the curse that kills people. A bit of a buzz kill on the way to school. I told him it sounded like "Manamana" from the Muppet Show, and we sang that song for the rest of the walk to the bus stop.
Lessons learned: I've been trying to get my son to read Harry Potter for years, but somehow he's seen at least one of the movies. A reminder that kids are introduced to things by so much more than their parents.
Day 5: Kiddo wanted nothing to do with it. Was in a goofy mood (ironically), and instead focused on saving a seed from a tree and insisting we plant it in our yard. However, later that night, he drew this diagram of a deflamorganizer (that is not how he thinks it should be spelled) and even attempted to build one of out of legos. Check it out:
Conclusions:
1) You can't control creativity, but it will take kids on journeys you didn't expect.
2) As parents, we can accidentally stifle creativity with our own expectations.
3) Children have so many influences outside of their parents.
4) Long-term effects have yet to be determined, but more creativity is in store.
Recommendations:
Would I do this again? Absolutely - we laughed more on the way to the bus stop than we normally do. Do I know if it made an immediate difference? Likely no, but how my son thinks is directly related to the opportunities I give him to think. So I will continue to push my children to be creative, because that is how kids find who they are.
I would love to hear your ideas on how to incorporate unexpected creativity in your every day interactions!
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