Let a hundred creative flowers bloom

QUEEN Latifah (right) looks awed by yoyo prodigy Alex Hattori photo:queenlatifah.com

Thanks to TV program hosts like Oprah Winfrey and Ellen DeGeneres for guesting precocious child performers on their shows, thus reminding everyone that all talented kids should be encouraged to develop their creative abilities. All too often, children’s creativity is shot down by parents who think that a career in the performing arts isn’t a “practical” option for their progeny.

Some weeks ago, Queen Latifah upstaged even Oprah and Ellen by coming up with an entire telecast of her own talk show that exclusively showcased a wide range of talented kids with all sorts of exceptional and unique abilities!

The showcase was right up our alley because we’ve been trying to convince local producers that a production focusing on child talents of all sorts, not just the usual belters and hoofers, should find its way to local screens.

Queen Latifah has shown the way with her recent focus on precocious talents, who included a 10-year-old concert pianist who first tickled those ivory keys when he was three years young!

In addition, she featured a young female trio, a certified brainiac and know-it-all, a solo dancer who combined terpsichore and acrobatics—and, expanding the showcase’s breadth and reach even further, a yoyo champion, a billiards player and a bemedalled rock climber to boot!

Aside from the unusual showcase for precocious talents provided by “The Queen Latifah Show,” we were also gratified recently to catch another TV tribute to outstanding kids that featured—very young inventors!

This is another area that imaginative and problem-solving youths should be encouraged to go into! We were excited to see around 10 juvenile inventors demonstrating the practical and creative products they had thought up and actually crafted to solve everyday problems and make life easier for their families and friends.

Their inventions included a way to keep beach sandals from flying off running kids’ feet, a mini-raincoat to protect the necks of workers caught in an instant downpour, and an inexpensive way to keep eyeglasses clean and clear.

Some of the young inventors’ ideas were so good that products resulting from them were already in limited manufacture and on sale, so they were already making money from their “lightbulb” brainstorms!

Aside from the financial motivation, simple and practical inventions are a good way for children to hone their analytical and problem-solving skills. Many of them may not end up as scientists and technicians when they grow up, but the creativity they demonstrate as juvenile inventors can serve them in good stead in other ways after they complete their “official” studies

As for the artistic kids who are discouraged from pursuing an “impractical” career in the arts by their overly-cautious parents, this notion has been contradicted time and time again by artists who now make a very good living from doing what they love to do best in the performing and visual arts.

Some painters earn more each year than many bank executives, and young actors and singers (and their parents) laugh all the way to the bank!

More than living the good, prosperous life, however, young artists should be encouraged instead of slapped down, because their art not just

expresses who they are, but also defines them. Instead of producing a thousand accountants, let a hundred creative flowers bloom!