Living With Live Wires

Giving children latitude in making choices helps them to develop taste and good judgment, both of which are essential elements of creativity. (Sternberg 2003)

Sternberg continues, redefining a problem means taking a problem and turning it on its head. Many times in life individuals have a problem and they just don’t see how to solve it. They are stuck in a box. It is an aspect of problem finding, as opposed merely to problem solving. This process is the divergent part of creative thinking.

There are many ways teachers can encourage children to define and redefine problems for themselves, rather than – as is so often the case – doing it for them.

Adults can encourage creative thinking by having children choose their own topics for papers or presentations, choose their own ways of solving problems, and sometimes by having them choose again if they discover that their selection was a mistake.

Your definition of your situation makes all the difference in your ability to generate solutions.

If you see difficult life challenges as opportunities to be creative, then you will rise to the challenge and find solutions. If you think your school system or the requirements are too restrictive and do not allow you to be creative, you can either give up and be discouraged, or you can work to change the system, become a role model of creative thinking and find ways to integrate creativity into the system you are living with at the time.

Redefining problems is a crucial skill for gifted children who may get “stuck” in unhealthy definitions of their situation, believe they have no options and experience related stress. Children with emotional intensities can be vulnerable to these feelings.

Gifted Children with perfectionistic tendencies can practice this skill to create more flexibility in their thinking, thus dislodging beliefs that there is only one way to complete tasks.