Encourage Your Toddler's Natural Love Of Life And Personal Creativity.

As a small child, I was deathly afraid of absolutely everything. This fear only intensified the older I got.

Directly affecting every aspect of my life, I allowed fear to stop me from; 1.) learning how to ride a bike (I was afraid of falling), 2.) learning how to swim (I almost drowned at the age of twelve), 3.) meeting new people (I was afraid of doing or saying something that would make me look silly), 4.) traveling to beautiful places (I was afraid of flying), etc. etc. etc.

Determined not to pass this fear of "living life to the full" down to my two daughters, It has been my aim - nay - my ultimate mission to encourage their natural love of life and individual creativity. It is for this very reason, that as we went on our daily "nature" walk today, I put fear aside and handed over my digital camera to my four year old daughter.

"Here", I said. "Take pictures of anything you find interesting." A look of shock ran across her face. She couldn't believe that I was actually entrusting a moderately priced electronic device in her small, often rambunctious hands. With glee she grabbed the camera, and with a few instructions from myself she immediately started snapping pictures of things that she found to be exciting and interesting.

As I watched with amazement, I noticed how she would stop and study her subjects first. Several times she'd touch and even smell the object before she took a snapshot of it. Looking through the camera once we came home, I was presented with snapshots of trees, apartments, insects, cats and dogs, even mailboxes.

It was amazing to see the world through the eyes of my four year old via the lens of a camera. It impressed on my mind once again, that no matter what our personal hangups are, we as parents have a duty to encourage our children's inborn love of nature and individual flare of creativity.

Whatever medium we use, whether it be a camera, pen and paper, paint and canvas, or crayons/coloring pencils, we should do everything in our power to let them see the beauty life and personal creativity has to offer.