My son and his wife invited me over the other day for a couple reasons; my granddaughter had a present for me.
As I made my entrance into my son’s home, I was met by a charging granddaughter excited about showing me her latest art projects. She had made a series of drawings and of course I was really impressed. She just turned five, and is a dynamo when it comes to drawing, painting, or sculpting. Her father Matt, is an accomplished artist in his own right, so the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree as they say.
What makes me proud though, is that both my sons and their wives are big encouragers of their children’s creativity. Their homes are filled with every possible tool to create art and the children have full reign.
My granddaughters are always encouraged to try different things.
Which brings me to the second reason I was invited over.
It seems my son Matt had bought the latest video game, this game allows the player to interact with the game in a different way. The game actually interprets your body motions as you morph into the character of choice. As that character, you go through several challenges from dancing to whitewater rafting.
After some prodding I was convinced to participate in a white water river raft ride that left me breathless. My time there became an interactive family experience, as everyone there joined in. I caught myself laughing and enjoying the fun with everyone.
Suddenly I stopped laughing as I turned to my daughter-in-law and she asked, “What’s wrong”?
I said, “I just saw the future and it isn’t all good.”
She asked why and I answered, “The ARTree now has a big challenge in how to engage children.” We need to be creative in presenting an interactive experience.
That is, now more than ever giving the children a more tactile creative activity that allows them to work together and create not only individually, but in a collaborative way.
The future is exciting and scary at the same time, in that, once again we are being challenged to become better stewards of what our children are exposed to.
So what have I learned from this experience? I learned not to forget the past, and embrace the future.