Over the last 25 years of teaching, I have found that children don’t have an imagination like they used to. Instant gratification, answers given with a simple Google search, and screen addiction has taken the place of playtime with friends in person, learning from mistakes, and finding out who you are.

Looking back, my upbringing was a fantastic one. I have wonderful memories of playing in my room, hanging out with my friends, and getting into trouble with my brothers.

My parents encouraged playtime and problem-solving on our own. One memory I have was when my parents first started their lumber yard business. My mother would often have to visit my dad at the lumber yard during the day and would have my younger brother and me in tow. To keep us busy, my mother had the genius idea of giving us half a cup of coffee and a sponge brush. She would tell us to go out to the warehouse and “paint” all the wood in the warehouse.

My brother and I took our “paint” and brush and went out to the warehouse. We would paint railings, stairs, anything that we could reach. We had to go slow because we didn’t want to spill the hot coffee onto our hands. We also had to paint for quite a while because once we painted a railing or step, it would dry, and then we would have to repaint it. As I said, she was a genius in keeping us busy so she could have an uninterrupted conversation with our dad.

I had three younger brothers so unless I wanted to play with cars, I played in my room and in our yard by myself. My imagination flourished when I was on my own. I was a mother, a princess, a movie star, a singer, a teacher, and a fangirl of the latest heartthrob of the year. Well, two out of six dreams aren’t bad.

One dream of mine was to be an entertainer. I grew up watching American Bandstand and MTV and dreamed about making people happy with my talent (I thought I had). We had a playhouse in our backyard. It was elevated with a deck, a slide, and a huge sandbox underneath. I would take my Sanyo boombox and my Madonna cassette tape to the playhouse and perform for my “fans” on the deck. It is partly due to this memory and my love of music I am a DJ. I don’t sing, but I do make people happy and have a good time by the choices of music I play for them.

I ask my eighth-grade students every year what they want to be when they graduate. Many do not have a clue. I ask my seventh-grade students every year who their role models are and many don’t even know what that means.

We need to help our children to foster their imaginations. Everything is spoon-fed to them. Their lives are surrounded by screens telling them what to do instead of letting them figure it out by themselves. Their paths are already made for them and it is doing them a disservice.

Ways to Encourage Your Child’s Imagination

• Limit screen time
• Encourage playtime
• Read to them
• Talk to them about what they want to be
• Support their dreams – whatever it may be
• Let them make mistakes – and learn from them

When we nurture our children’s imagination, we help them become what they want to be. And then when they are adults, they have a life that they truly love.