When Too Much Reading Is Bad For You

 

Books are good. Whether you’re reading to your child or letting them read by themselves, there is an immeasurable amount of development going on. Visualisation, imagination, vocabulary, general knowledge, thinking and debating skills – they all increase in leaps and bounds thanks to being exposed to fiction. “At least ten minutes a day,” experts tell us. What they don’t tell us is, how much is too much.

Apart from the obvious strain on the eyes, too much reading is bad for your body, turning it into a couch potato and depriving you of the opportunity to run, climb trees, swim and jump on the trampoline. Furthermore, reading is a passive activity when compared to more creative hobbies such as drawing, composing music, play-acting, sewing, computer programming and free play.

Of course, if the choice is between watching TV and reading, let them read by all means. But if an opportunity arises to play outside, walk the dog or make Christmas decorations, that’s when putting down the book is the right choice.

Is your child in danger of reading too much? It all depends on their learning style. Do they have a preference for no mobility, working alone, perseverance, visual learning? If so, they may concentrate on books so much, they miss out on other essential development steps. Find out today.

Child Prodigies and Learning Styles

• Brian Greene (born February 9, 1963) could multiply 30-digit numbers at the age 5.
• Cameron Thompson (born 1997) began studying with the Open University when he was 11. He gained the Cert.Math(Open) qualification at the age of 13.
• Brianna and Brittany Winner published their first novel at 12 and became America's youngest multiple award winning authors. At the end of fourth grade they used a speech to text software to complete an 80,000-word novel.
• Akiane Kramarik born in 1994, sold paintings worth three million USD at age 7.

The list of child prodigies goes on and on, in fields such as astronomy, medicine, chemistry, art. We're talking extraordinary abilities here, something that most adults wouldn't be able to accomplish.

Inborn talent? Yes.

Hours and hours of practice? Yes.

Extraordinary inspiration? Probably.

Nevertheless, the children's learning styles have a role to play, too. Typically, a child prodigy's information processing style will be integrated between holistic and analytic, and their way of learning will be multi-sensory. What is your child's learning style? Find out today.




Here is a video clip of Akiane Kramarik painting and playing the piano. Below, one of her paintings.



"There's Only One Answer. It's At The Back. Don't Look."

At Creative Learning, we are fully behind the concept of paradigm shifts in education. Our Learning Style Analysis tools are poised to place a higher value on creativity and to challenge people's thinking about teaching our children in standard batches that resemble a factory process instead of a journey of discovery.

This is why we're delighted to bring you the video by Sir Ken Robinson about the paradigm shift in education. It's not enough in today's world, he reasons, to work hard, get a good education and a good job. A university degree no longer guarantees financial success. We should concentrate more on the individual (see his reference to learning styles on the 7th minute of the video) and on nurturing creativity in our children.

Now that you've seen the video clip, are you keen to discover your child's learning style? Click here.

Creative Thinking - Interview with Sandy Sims

Sandy Sims, an ex Navy Officer and a business school graduate, is the author of the fascinating book, Creative Thinking For The 21^st Century, An Experiential Guidebook.

Yvonne: Welcome, Sandy. What is your definition of Creative Thinking?

Sandy: First of all there are probably over a hundred different models for creativity and my statements are based upon trying out a non-linear manifestation model and reporting on the results. The primary reason I have referred to these as thinking patterns for the 21^st century is that we are being forced to seek new ways to exist. Technology increases the number of experiences available at a blinding pace, and seems to steal time in the same breath. For me creative thinking is:

A process of continuously petitioning the unconscious field to obtain the new.

This model suggests that new knowledge emerges through the unconscious mind and that aspects of this mind may be shared via intuition and synchronicities. It does not detract from our linear brain functions involved in reasoning and previous knowledge, nor does it negate other creative techniques, but sets the stage for those activities.

Yvonne: How do you employ creative thinking to solve problems?

I ask intently and continuously to know the core question regarding any situation, trusting that the answer will appear whether definitively or intuitively; and using that core question as the contextual basis for all investigation to either a next step or a final solution.

This sets the contextual stage for the next step. It may even solve the problem. You may then engage with others using rationale analysis, brainstorming, and  other techniques.

For example let us say you are a manager in a company and you have a chronic conflict between two employees to resolve. Your first inclination might be to think, “How can I help patch up a difference between these two people?” If however you ask yourself to know the core question, upon reflection it might be, “What is the best outcome for all concerned?”  With this question as the basis then a broader stage is set: it not only involves the two employees but the welfare of the company as well. Maybe instead of trying to patch things up it becomes clear in the ensuing process that the best outcome is for one of the people to leave. The loss of that person might cause a certain immediate burden, but his or her replacement could turn out to be a huge improvement and the person leaving may have actually wanted a change but lacked the initiative.

Frequently a problem involves how to create something new which is going to involve brainstorming with others. In this case when you do meet your unconscious mind has already been long at work. Then you are prepared for either a solution or the next step.

Yvonne: Can you incorporate creative thinking in decision making?

Absolutely. I actually went back to think about what factors were involved in my decision making process and produced a model to describe this. Most of our decisions are around situations requiring us to decide whether to go one direction or another or whether to act or not act.

You might then proceed by setting a goal of “achieving the best outcome for all involved” as it relates to the action contemplated. I like to think of having invisible partners on the other end of my goal setting and this being a foundation order to them. As a further filter I like to evaluate the contemplated action through a values screen. Is it ethical? Is it purposeful? Is it harmful? Is it in line with my core values?

If the answer is yes, then I am willing to proceed. If the answer is no, then stop and consider a new action.

As I move up the risk continuum I want to evaluate the nature of the desire. Is it for a pure experience or is it masking a fear? If it is masking a fear then reconsider. The fear may be replacing the original desire.

Finally I check my intuition.  If I get a “yes,” I proceed until I get a positive outcome or a negative outcome. A negative outcome may not necessarily be bad. For example there is the story of the Chinese peasant who loses his prize horse. His neighbor says, “Oh what a tragedy.” The peasant replies, “Maybe, Maybe not.” The next day the peasant’s son goes out on a mule to find the horse. In so doing he brings back the horse but falls off the mule and breaks his leg. The neighbor says, “Oh what a tragedy.” The peasant replies, “Maybe, maybe not.” The next day the Chinese Army sweeps through conscripting every able bodied youth. The son is spared.

Before having an outcome you may experience synchronicities. These are meetings between inner desires and outer world occurrences. If positive, continue on. If negative , then either stop and consider a new course of action or continue on until you receive a confirming negative synchronicity. In that case stop and consider a new action.

I have this diagramed in a model: http://creativethinkingbook.com/intuitive-decision-making-model/

Yvonne: De Bono's 6 Thinking Hats have been introduced successfully in primary schools. What's the age limit on your methodology - can children benefit from using a simplified version?

The one thing that makes the De Bono a success is that the hats introduce an element of fun while keeping the children focused on the hat’s topic.

I feel that the most valuable quality children exhibit is their questioning and curious mind, especially with regard to the “Why” and “How.”

I think that exercises with children need to be fun. My take is that my model per se might be a bit too intellectual. However any exercise that would lead children to discuss the value of a question, what makes a question good or better and why would be extremely valuable.  I believe that learning to live life as a question is the portal to creativity.

Yvonne: Tell us more about your book and workbook, particularly how they spark creative thinking.

I wrote this book as an introspective journey seeing my life as being lived through a linear thinking lens, and then being made aware of an entirely new way of manifesting, and seeing life through that lens. I wanted to test this manifestation model in my daily life, being willing to raise the bar as the results seemed to confirm it was working. The book is the story of this journey. My feeling is that many people are on similar journeys and younger people can gain by knowing what is possible.  Perhaps the essence of this book is that if we live in a state of curiosity that will open up an expanding creative landscape. If we can realize our own personal power, and can learn to trust then we can have an extraordinary life.

The guidebook came about as a desire to pass on the essence of what I had learned, especially to young people who are starting out in life. I had the good fortune of being exposed to a number of cutting edge thinkers, and fascinating people all of whom made a profound impact upon me. I tried  out much of what they suggested.  I felt that a short guidebook which suggests not only how to think but what to think about could be very beneficial. Dr. Kerry Monick, the psychiatrist who was my catalyst in the book, was my collaborator for the guidebook.

For more information about Sandy Sims and How Frank Lloyd Wright Got Into My Head, Under My Skin And Changed The Way I Think About Thinking, A Creative Thinking Blue Print For the 21st Century, visit http://creativethinkingbook.com/ and visit this page to get the Amazon links http://creativethinkingbook.com/buy-your-copy/.    

Creativity and Learning Styles

What is creativity? Encyclopaedia Britannica defines it as: "Ability to produce something new through imaginative skill, whether a new solution to a problem, a new method or device, or a new artistic object or form. The term generally refers to a richness of ideas and originality of thinking.

Although psychological studies of highly creative people have shown that their learning styles lean heavily towards the holistic and disorganised, they've also noted that this lack or focus of a highly right-brained individual may stand in the way of success. No matter how original your idea, you have to implement and finish it in order to be truly creative. 

So what other Learning Style Pyramid elements do you need to be creative?

• an Integrated Learning Style (holistic as well as analytic)
• high persistence 
• high responsibility
• self-starter
• self-directed

The Creative Learning CEO, Barbara Prashnig, was recently chosen to feature on photographer Allan Johnston's book on creative people.

Do you have what it takes to be creative? Check out your own Working Style now.

Learning Styles of Creative Minds

If you went back in time to, say, 30 years ago, and tried to tell people that:

• you read newspapers and watch TV on your computer...
• ... in fact, a few months ago you witness the rescue of 34 Chilean miners from 700m below the ground....

If you said:

• you talk your friends and family across the oceans via a personal computer...
• ... or via a phone you carry around in the street....

If you told them you watched the latest soccer World Cup live at the cinema in 3D, have an opinion on cloning and genetically modified foodstuffs, that night-time lenses can correct myopia and you can fit an entire library into your pocket...

... then people would call you very creative indeed. Creative with the truth, that is. And yet, this is precisely the weird and wonderful world we live in.

It takes a creative mind to imagine things that don't exist yet. What Learning Style would you expect such a creative person to have?

• Integrated with a tendency towards holistic
• Non-conforming
• With a preference for change
• Multi-sensory
• High perseverance

How creative are you? Find out what your Learning Style is.

Picasso put it best: "Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist when you grow up."

Use Creativity Correctly in Your Media Relations

(a guest post by Jonathan Bernstein)

Creative writers and thinkers can be some of the best – and some of the worst – media sources. Because we’re creative, we’re good at coming up with what journalists call “golden nuggets,” pithy sound bytes which make their stories read or sound better. For example, I’m fond of talking about the “Three C’s of Crisis Communications,” the notion that a good communicator needs to come across as Confident, Competent and Compassionate. Reporters eat that up. Ditto for another phrase I coined some time ago, “In the absence of communication, rumor and innuendo fill the gap.”

However, there is such a thing as being TOO creative, and getting caught up in hyperbole that turns a good interview into what sounds – to a reporter – like advertising copy or like someone trying to sound cute for cute’s sake, both being a real journalistic turn-off.

So, with that introduction, please enjoy this excerpt from Keeping the Wolves at Bay – Media Training:

Welcome to a new way of thinking about media relations. Even if you have given many ‘good news’ interviews in the past, you’re almost certain to say or do things you’ll regret if you have not been media trained when in a ‘high pressure’ media interview situation. Heck, you may say or do things you’ll regret even if you are media trained – but it’s less likely!

There are some other benefits to this process. Formal media training will:

· Help you develop and refine key messages, to see what really works under the stress of simulated interviews ( and good media trainers will make you forget it’s simulated).

· Optimize your chances of achieving balanced coverage. You’ll notice I say ‘optimize’ – there are no guarantees in this arena.

· Improves skills that transfer to many other types of public speaking – e.g., community presentations, testifying at hearings or in court, giving webinars, etc.

· Allows you to identify who’s an effective spokesperson in general, and who, specifically, may be better for different types of interviews. See Section 4: Media Logistics. And who, perhaps, should not be a spokesperson at all.

In the six years since I published the first edition of this manual, I have seen a dramatic difference in the results of my media training when trainees read the manual pre-training. I think it would have the same result no matter who conducted the training, so I encourage you to take the time to make that happen.

Media relations is, of course, only one component of crisis communications (CLS footnote: Working Style Analysis is another), one of many methods of getting messages to your stakeholders, both internal and external. In times of crisis it’s absolutely essential that your communicators be trained in all those methods. And that they practice their skills regularly, which is why this manual now includes, for the first time, a special section about how to practice media interview skills effectively without a trainer present.

(We invite you to join us for the Keeping the Wolves at Bay virtual tour. The schedule and more details can be found at http://bookpromotionservices.com/2010/04/28/keeping-wolves-bay-tour/. For more information and to get your copy, visit http://www.thecrisismanager.com/ or http://www.amazon.com/Keeping-Wolves-Bay-Media-Training/dp/1450582206)

Charlotte Reznick speaks about The Power of Your Child's Imagination

Is your child's Learning Style suited to the Tools of Imagination?

Find out here.

Q1. In your book, The Power of Your Child’s Imaginationyou share with us the importance of accessing a child’s imagination to help them handle everyday problems. Dr. Reznick, why is it important to access your child’s imagination to handle their problems?

Dr. CR: Parents come to me with all sorts of concerns. Like not sleeping at night, having all sorts of fears and worries, not doing well at school or sports, not being able to manage their anger and frustration, not getting along with their brothers and sisters, being devastated when their parents fight or divorce, having stress headaches and stomach-aches, and sometimes just feeling awful about themselves. Yet kids have many of the answers they need to solve their everyday problems right inside. With a little guidance to help them tap into their own imagination and develop their intuition, I’ve seen thousands of kids figure out what works for them. Like nine-year-old Alex who imagined a magical white dragon around his bed to keep him safe at night. Or six-year-old Sara who received a Gift of a crystal star from her Wizard to remember to love herself no matter what.

Basically, Moms and Dads are good at handling their kids’ problems, but sometimes we don’t always know which tool to apply when. This book assists you in choosing what’s best when. It’s as if it puts nine of my secret ingredients into your pantry and helps you choose what’s right for your child right now. There are Nine Imagination Tools that you can teach your child to use with most of the problems they face each day. The book teaches you what these tools are, and which ones work best for which problem. It gives scripts for the Nine Tools and guided journeys you can use immediately. You can mix and match the Tools to suit what works best for your child in each particular situation. There is also support for you as a Parent, on how to nurture yourself while raising your kids, and will lead to less stress for you, and more relaxed parenting.

Q2: You say that sleep issues are a major concern for kids today. How can parents use imagination to help their children fall asleep quickly and easily?

Dr. CR.: Parents ask me all the time about sleep problems. No matter how old a child is, trouble falling asleep is the most common complaint, followed by trouble staying asleep. 30 to 70 percent of kids have a sleep problem at some point. Let me tell you about Sophie. You might recognize some of her issues in your child. Eight-year-old Sophie was exhausted. She tossed and turned for hours. She was short-tempered all day from her lack of sleep. Her parents were exhausted and exasperated. When I met her, Sophie told me exactly what her problem was. She said, “I can’t turn off my brain. Stuff keeps spilling out.” She drew a picture of her life – dark, rainy, with no love. But, when I asked her if she could imagine what her life would be like when she could turn off her brain and sleep easily, she transformed that picture. She imagined a land of Love with the sun shining and flowers growing. She said her crabbiness would be gone and she’d feel really happy and proud of herself.

This simple spark of her imagination was the first step toward change. It’s important that she acknowledged where she was, and could imagine where she wanted to go. Then we took the steps to get there. The Imagination Tools that worked best for Sophie were… one, the “Balloon Breath,” breathing deeply into her tummy to calm herself. Second, imagining a “Special Place” to fall asleep. She loved to imagine falling asleep peacefully while floating on a fluffy white cloud or in her favorite vacation place. She was lucky enough to go Hawaii the year before and she loved swinging on the hammock in front of the room. And third, meeting a wise “Wizard” who gave her “Gifts.” Sophie imagined a Harry Potter type teenage wizard who dressed in a cool violet skirt and a hot pink blouse with a gold crown, who gave her magic berries that helped her body relax deeply and fall asleep. And her Wizard’s wise advice to her was, “If you believe you’re already sleeping, you’ll be asleep in a minute,” Of course that’s clearly coming from Sophie herself. Which is the point – you child has the wisdom and answers inside. All you have to do is choose which Nine Tools work best.

Dr. Charlotte Reznick has dedicated her life to helping children, adolescents, parents, and professionals. She is a nationally recognized child and educational Psychologist and Associate Clinical Professor of Psychology at UCLA. Upon earning her Ph.D. in Educational Psychology from the University of Southern California, she was honored with "Dissertation of the Year" for her work on the effects of parental divorce on adolescents.

The Power of Your Child’s Imagination is a heart-felt guide that shows parents and professionals how to empower children with easy, effective, and creative skills for surviving – and thriving – in our stressful world. It’s an indispensable guide that provides nine simple tools to help kids access their natural strengths and resources. There’s a mini-primer for each Tool—a sample script, troubleshooting tips, and real-life examples of how it is used. The Tools are adaptable to all ages (even adults can use them), and their benefits accumulate over time.

For more information, or to purchase a copy of The Power of Your Child's Imagination, please visit http://www.imageryforkids.com/

Sleep, Creativity and Learning Styles

• I know about sleep. But what are learning styles?

A learning style is the unique set of preferences and non-preferences that determines the optimal way in which an individual concentrates and works.

• Does your learning style help you solve problems and be creative?

In a nutshell, yes. If you work in an environment compatible with your learning style, you will be more productive, more creative and more able to solve problems.

• Oh. Is that all?

No, not at all. Did you know what the latest research discovered? They looked into the correlation between sleep and problem solving, and they discovered that people who’ve “slept on it” are generally more able to solve the problem in question than those who stayed awake trying to solve it.

· And the link to learning styles would be...

Simple. If your learning style allows you to stop the task you have just begun and go off have a nap, it’s good news according to Sara Mednick, University of California San Diego, who conducted the study into sleep and creativity.

Mednick summarised her findings as follows: "We found that for creative problems you've already been working on, the passage of time is enough to find solutions. However, for new problems, only REM sleep enhances creativity."

So...

• What is your learning style?