Americans check their smartphones approximately an average of 205 times a day. It seems that almost everyone is dependent on their smartphone. According to one survey, 76% of U.S. adults get nervous if they can’t find theirs, and 44% say they couldn’t go one day without it.

Smartphone dependency and smartphone addiction are taking a toll on relationships everywhere, and some would even pick their device over the relationship if forced to choose between the two. A recent study found that one-third of individuals would rather give up sex than their smartphones.

This dependency is so widespread, partly because very few people have the choice to “opt out” of internet life and all the accompanying devices. Our work, social, and family lives depend upon email, texts, and internet access, and we are expected to be able to connect to these things at all times through our smartphones. This means we carry our addiction triggers with us everywhere we go—we have to.

In some ways, smartphones can enhance relationships. The ease of staying in touch with a partner through texts, calls, and FaceTime can strengthen relationship bonds by maintaining intimacy through busy days and long distances. On the other hand, people have difficulty truly connecting face to face when one or both partners are distracted by the constant urge to check their phone.

People today use their smartphones all the time, everywhere. The survey found they’re spending an average of five hours and 16 minutes per day staring into a screen.

Naturally, this degree of smartphone obsession gets in the way of intimacy.

Seven Ways That Smartphone Addiction is Getting in the Way of Your Relationship

1. Phubbing

This mashup term derived from “phone-snubbing,” refers to times when you become distracted by your phone, and your partner feels snubbed or rejected. It has become one of the major sources of relationship conflict in recent years.

2. Miscommunication

When you are constantly distracted by your phone, you’re more likely to miss what your partner is saying. This will not only show thoughtlessness towards your partner, it can lead to misunderstandings and miscommunications that can cause all kinds of problems—from failing to show up to an event your partner thought you’d agreed to come to, to failing to recognize when your partner is trying to tell you something important, and responding inappropriately or not at all.

3. Time and energy drain

Smartphone overuse can be a major drain on time and energy that you could be spending on your partner. It can result in a pattern of consistent neglect that drives a wedge between you.

4. Less sex, and/or worse sex

Many people report not wanting to stop what they’re doing on their smartphone to have sex with their partners, and one in five people actually checks their phone during sex.

5. More insecurity and less satisfaction

Individuals with smartphone-dependent or addicted partners could be less happy in their relationships. The higher the level of smartphone dependency within a couple, the higher the level of relationship uncertainty, and the lower the level of relationship satisfaction.

6. Self-centeredness

Spending a lot of time on social media can encourage self-absorption and narcissism. Getting caught up in displaying yourself in a certain way online, chasing acknowledgement from others, competing to get more followers, or to win online arguments, etc., can lead to an unhealthy level of self-centeredness.

7. Distance from your partner

Constant smartphone usage and distraction isolate people from their partners, making them feel like they have to compete with technology for attention, or that they can’t compete, so why even stay in the relationship?

It isn’t smartphone use itself that negatively impacts relationships, but rather the psychological reliance that people have on these devices. In other words, regularly using your smartphone won’t get in the way of your love life, but smartphone dependency and smartphone addiction will.

Signs of Smartphone Addiction

Just like alcohol or drugs, smartphones can stimulate the release of dopamine, a neurotransmitter associated with pleasure, emotions, motivation, and movement. Dopamine makes us feel good, and our brains reward us with it to reinforce life-sustaining activities such as eating food and taking care of ourselves.

Some activities release extra amounts of dopamine through over-stimulation (like the constantly changing forms of distraction accessible through a smartphone), causing the user to develop a tolerance that drives them to increase the amount of time spent on the activity just to experience the same degree of pleasure.

Tolerance is a sign of smartphone addiction, as is compulsively checking your phone, and experiencing withdrawal symptoms when you attempt to cut down or quit. These symptoms may also appear when you are simply without wi-fi, or in an area without cell service.

Withdrawal symptoms include: panic, anxiety, restlessness, hostility, irritability, anger, depression, difficulty concentrating, and intense cravings for device usage.

Other signs of smartphone addiction include:

• Using your phone in situations where you know you shouldn’t, such as while driving, attending an important event, or having sex
• Spending so much time on your phone that you neglect relationships, family responsibilities, work, school, or any other activity or hobby that is important to you
• Prioritizing online relationships and social media feedback over face-to-face interactions
• Hiding and lying about smartphone use
• Getting cranky when your smartphone time is interrupted
• Getting hostile when someone brings up how much time or energy you devote to your smartphone
• Feeling panicky at the idea of missing out on news, texts, social media happenings or anything else your phone can connect you to
• Getting up at night to check your phone
• Feeling phantom phone vibrations—imagining that you are getting a notification, text, email or call when you actually aren’t

The Cost of Smartphone Addiction

Many people use their phones to cope with or escape from deeper problems such as loneliness, depression, anxiety, or stress, but smartphone addiction can also exacerbate or even cause such emotional problems.

For example, you may tweet something funny, hoping to get enough responses, likes, and retweets to make you feel better about yourself, then wind up feeling worse if your tweet is ignored, or causes a negative backlash. You may also use your phone to hide during events due to social anxiety, but hiding behind your phone will only cut you off from others and cause you to miss out on opportunities to practice social skills, so that you feel even less capable and more anxious in future social situations.

Studies have also shown that just having smartphones around can increase anxiety. Your phone can keep you from concentrating at work. At home, it can cause work pressures to bleed into your personal life.

Smartphones can also interfere with your ability to concentrate. The ever-changing types of stimulation that phones provide can prevent deep thoughts or creative ideas, and get you acclimated to shifting to something new every few minutes. It can also diminish your problem-solving ability by never allowing you a quiet moment to really work through an issue.

Nine Strategies to Reduce Smartphone Dependency and Smartphone Addiction

Whether you are fully addicted to your smartphone or merely dependent upon it, your quality of life will improve if you find ways to cut down on the time you spend glued to your device.

1. Minimize unnecessary smartphone usage

Try to figure out how much of your smartphone use is necessary—for work, for communicating with loved ones, for keeping up with caregiving duties, or for using apps to help with driving or checking movie times—and how much of it is unnecessary habit, like checking Facebook or reposting on Tumblr. Remember that in the early days of your recovery from smartphone addiction, all smartphone habits will FEEL necessary to you emotionally. This attachment will improve over time.

2. Allocate data-free time during the day

Designate a certain amount of data-free time every day. Silence your phone (no fair using vibrate), or turn it all the way off, between certain hours of the day at work or school, or whenever you’re working out or on a date. Putting it somewhere out of sight will help put it out of your mind—or at least cut down on how distracted you’ll be from the activity at hand.

3. Silence your phone when driving

Smartphone addicts should especially silence their phones while driving. The distraction of hearing a notification or the temptation to check email could have dangerous, even deadly consequences.

4. Find other interests for your free time

Develop new interests or hobbies to fill up the time you used to spend on your device.

5. Use an old-fashioned alarm clock

Avoid using your phone as an alarm—it’s too easy to shift from turning it off to checking email and browsing Instagram.

6. Remove excess apps

You’re much better off deleting apps that connect you to Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, and other social media distractions from your phone. Having to set aside time to go to your computer to participate instead of being constantly connected to it 24/7 will free up your time, and prove that you aren’t missing out on as much as you fear you are.

7. Minimize app notifications

If you can’t bring yourself to ditch the apps yet, at least turn off the notifications, and if you can’t bring yourself to turn them all off, at least limit notifications to the most important apps, like the one connected to your child’s school. Today, you can also find apps specifically designed to block your access to other, more distracting apps during peak times of productivity, so you can focus better.

You also might want to consider setting special ringtones or vibrations for the most important people in your life, so you can know if it’s your best friend calling about your dinner plans without having to check, which may tempt you into other activities on your phone.

8. Stop checking your email before work

If there is an emergency, you will get a phone call. Otherwise, any message sent by email can safely wait for another hour or two. Also, consider shutting off your email entirely over the weekend. People might send you work emails on Saturday or Sunday, but you are not obligated to respond to them. In most cases, the sender doesn’t even expect you to—they were simply checking something off their to-do list when they had the time to do it.

9. Leave your phone out of the bedroom

This last strategy will not only help you sleep better by reducing distractions and eliminating the screen light that can contribute to insomnia, but it will also improve intimacy with your partner, even on nights when you don’t have sex.

Smartphone addiction doesn’t have to get in the way of a healthy, fulfilling relationship. By following the tips above, you can reclaim your connection with your partner and discover new and exciting ways to bond that don’t involve a screen. If you or someone you love is struggling with smartphone addiction and needs professional treatment to overcome it, rehab programs are avaiable. source

Our Vision

Every day we work to provide an extraordinary place where smiles and laughter lead to wonderful memories with family members, friends, and caregivers. We want Morgan’s Wonderland to be a place where the common element of play creates an atmosphere of inclusion for those with and without disabilities while encouraging everyone to gain a greater understanding of one another.

Morgan’s Wonderland is just like any other theme park except for a culture and environment that assures 100 percent enjoyment by every person entering the Welcome Center. Unfortunately, countless children and adults with special needs do not have access to facilities that enable them to enjoy outdoor recreation fully. Morgan’s Wonderland is changing that every day.

The Inspiration

Call her a catalyst, a spark, an inspiration. Morgan Hartman doesn’t realize it, but her ability to smile through physical and cognitive special needs spurred her parents – Gordon and Maggie Hartman – to do things never before accomplished for individuals with special needs and their families. Morgan inspired the creation of a one-of-a-kind theme park and other initiatives benefiting the inclusive community.

The tipping point occurred in 2006 when Gordon observed Morgan wanting to play with other vacationing kids at a hotel swimming pool, but the kids were leery of Morgan and didn’t want to interact with her. Then and there, Gordon and Maggie resolved to create opportunities and places where those with and without disabilities can come together for fun and better understand one another. That led to the construction of Morgan’s Wonderland in an abandoned quarry in Northeast San Antonio. It’s apropos that the butterfly is the symbol of this unique theme park; soaring to one success after another is now commonplace.

When it celebrated its grand opening on April 10, 2010, Morgan’s Wonderland became the world’s first theme park designed with individuals with special needs in mind and built for everyone’s enjoyment. The completely wheelchair-accessible park features more than 25 elements, including rides, playgrounds, and other colorful attractions. From the very beginning, anyone with a special need has been admitted free of charge, no questions asked.

It is Morgan’s sincere hope that everyone with a special need – young and older, healthy or ailing, introspective, or outgoing – will be touched extraordinarily by Morgan’s Wonderland: a shrine of inclusion, an oasis of friendship, an unforgettable wonderland…Morgan’s Wonderland!

The Visionary

Native San Antonian Gordon V. Hartman sold his highly-successful homebuilding business in 2005 to pursue his and wife Maggie’s dream of helping children and adults with special needs. He proceeded to build nonprofit Morgan’s Wonderland, still the world’s first and only Ultra-Accessible, fully-inclusive theme park.

The phenomenal success of Morgan’s Wonderland – almost 3 million guests from all 50 states and over 120 other countries through park visitation and special events – encouraged Gordon to add award-winning Morgan’s Inspiration Island splash park, Morgan’s Sports complex, year-round Morgan’s Camp and Morgan’s MAC (Multi-Assistance Center). This latest venture involves more than 30 community-based organizations that provide both medical and non-medical services to children and adults with special needs. Morgan’s MAC sets a new standard for delivering coordinated care in an inclusive atmosphere through the guidance and follow-through of specially-educated team members known as Navigators.

All of Gordon’s innovations – and more to come – comprise Morgan’s, the umbrella organization that strategically coordinates planning, fundraising, marketing and communications for all its “family” members. In every endeavor, Gordon emphasizes the importance of inclusion, bringing together those with and without special needs and disabilities for interaction and a better understanding of one another. In addition to his many accomplishments through Morgan’s, Gordon has worked closely with governmental and community leaders on improvements that further add to San Antonio’s growing reputation as “Inclusion City, USA.”

The inspiration for all that Gordon has accomplished is his 30-year-old daughter Morgan, who’s dealt with physical and cognitive special needs since birth. In the beginning, Gordon’s guiding motto was: “Together, we CAN make a difference!” As a result of many successes and lots more to come, that motto now is: “Together, we ARE making a difference!”

Click here to read the full bio.

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Your kids are gonna figure you out someday. I promise you they are. The type of parent you are. The type of spouse you are. How you treat others. How much effort you put into them. You will be someone they look up to, or someone they never wanna be like.

I’m sitting here today, on school holidays, putting together a session for staff development for the first day back. To the students and parents, that’s a pupil-free day. To my husband (not a teacher), it’s coffee and cake day. As for the teachers, well, you’ll generally find a spectrum of attitudes to professional development days ranging from high enthusiasm to mortal dread.

The focus of my session is on Conceptual Programming. We’re in exciting times in many curriculum areas as we adapt our teaching and learning to the new Australian Curriculum. English, Maths, Science and History high school teachers all have new NSW Syllabus documents to plan from for 2014, and there are some exciting (did I say exciting again?) cross-curriculum priorities to integrate into our units of work – Aboriginal histories and culture, Asia and Australia’s engagement with Asia, and Sustainability – my personal favourite – among other things.

The new curriculum offers us a chance to reflect, examine and evaluate what we do, and improve our practice. Building our programs conceptually allows us to create learning opportunities that develop our students’ ability to engage with big ideas, examine and explore key and problematic issues in society, to pose, and answer essential questions that have relevance to them. It’s exciting! (Yes, it really is.)

Partly as a form of procrastination, and partly as research, I’ve been surfing Youtube today (as you do), looking for an inspiring little snippet to get the staff thinking and engaged on that first (oft-loathed) day back at school, and I stumbled across a video that’s been around for a while. You might have seen it (if not it’s here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFcDGpL4U). It’s an animation of a Ken Robinson talk about society’s need to make an educational paradigm shift, reinforcing the idea that school as an institution doesn’t cater to 21st century learners; that school, in fact, stifles creativity. Which, as one of my esteemed and learned colleagues just pointed out to me over another social media platform today, is not a new idea. As she also suggested, the video has been done to death with teachers, so I won’t be using it, but it did raise some interesting questions about where we’re at with our education system.

What has all of this got to do with preschool geniuses? I’m getting to it…

Robinson cites a 1968 study by George Land and Beth Jarman, published in their book Breakpoint and Beyond, which, although dated, outlines some interesting findings. Land and Jarman administered a divergent thinking test to 1600 people; divergent thinking being the capacity for creativity, the ability to determine multiple solutions to a problem. This is the type of test administered by NASA to select innovative engineers and scientists. The results in the sample group were astounding – 98% of the participants scored at the genius level for divergent thinking. The sample group? Five-year-olds.

In this longitudinal study, only 32% of 10-year-olds, and 12% of 15-year-olds reached the same level of creative thinking. Of 280 000 adults tested, only 2% reached genius level. Robinson used an example of divergent thinking in his talk: that divergent thinkers would be able to come up with 200 uses for a paper clip, whereas most of us could only come up with 10-15. A divergent thinker would think outside the box. Does the paper clip have to be in the form we know it? If there are no limitations, why not a 200-foot paper clip made of foam?

Preschoolers are geniuses in divergent thinking, according to this study. All those questions, which we often laugh at, the way that their logic seems to have not quite sorted itself out yet, is divergent thinking in action.

An example. Three-year-old Phoebe asked me a couple of months back if Aunty Mel needed some more trees at her house. It was a question out of the blue, and I didn’t understand it at first. We had been hanging out with my friend Mel. Last year Mel celebrated 15 years since a double lung transplant, but her transplanted lungs are deteriorating. She’s on oxygen and in a wheelchair most of the time. Even though she deserves a blog tribute of her own (to come – she is the most amazing person I know), I know Mel won’t mind me mentioning her here.

After a day out with Mel, the kids asked about Aunty Mel. They asked why she has tubes in her nose, and why she’s in a wheelchair, and we told them. I tried to tell them as accurately as possible, in language that three-year-olds would understand. I told them that our lungs take oxygen from the air that we breathe in, and that the oxygen is transferred to our blood, to make our muscles and our brain work. I told them that Aunty Mel can’t walk very well because her lungs can’t absorb enough oxygen, and she gets puffed out and tired very easily, like when they’ve been running around a lot. I told them that there are lots of people whose bodies don’t work properly, and that they are so very lucky that they are healthy kids.

When Phoebe asked about whether Aunty Mel needed more trees at her house, I must admit I was a little befuddled. Then it clicked. Phoebe likes to ask questions at bed time. One of her favourites is “What do trees do?” (so proud), so we go through a list of all the wonderful things trees do: offering homes for animals and birds, shade, making our backyard and much of the world beautiful, supplying wood for building, and paper… and providing oxygen for us to breathe. And there you have it: beautiful little Phoebe’s solution to Aunty Mel’s bad lungs – trees at her house to give her more oxygen. Divergent thinking in action. If only trees were the cure Mel needs.

Is my kid a genius? Well, it’s certainly an interesting study. If we do lose our ability to think creatively, why is that? School could be a culprit. As Robinson suggests, formal education is focused on right and wrong answers from an early age. Or perhaps we just grow up and logic takes over and we realise there are no 200-foot foam paper clips. Why bother hypothesising about them? Although, it’s clear that the people who do innovate in our society are the ones who can see the all of the applications of 200-foot foam paper clips.

For parents of preschoolers, the possibility that our child/ren may very well be creative geniuses is certainly eye-opening. I wonder if it’s possible to somehow retain the capacity for creativity of a five-year-old, even after they start school…?

How can we foster divergent thinking? I don’t know the answer, but I suspect, as in all good education, that it lies in requiring kids to think. To think in different ways, to think creatively and critically. Rather than trying to give children the ‘right’ answer when they ask ‘why’ or ‘how’, maybe we should direct it back to them first, and hear what they have to say. I find myself often providing detailed answers to their questions. How is thunder made? (Long and possibly inaccurate explanation of lightning and thunder). Why do bats come out at night? (Explanation of the habits of nocturnal animals). Why don’t some people have houses? (Long explanation of social inequalities and material differences). Maybe what we really need to do is just listen, and let them get creative, and explore, before telling them how it “really” is.

I end where my journey began: conceptual programming in secondary school. Despite our students’ apparent loss of creativity, for whatever the reason, teachers still need to provide opportunities for adolescents (like preschoolers) to think creatively, to philosphise, to ask why, and to connect to, and build upon, what is already known, to examine and explore, to create and construct, to analyse and apply, and to reflect and evaluate.

THAT will be the crux of my presentation for staff development day, when I get around to putting it together. Maybe tomorrow…

Study Shows We are Born Creative Geniuses but the “Education” System Dumbs Us Down

Most of us have watched Sir Ken Robinson’s 2007 TED Talk “Do schools kill creativity”. There’s a reason that it’s one of the most viewed TED Talks of all time. This wasn’t the first time that Robinson had talked about the negative effect that education has on creativity, and he’s also not the only one to have noticed this trend.

When you are thinking of organizations that have been looking towards the future of work, NASA should have been near the top of your list in 1992. They were already looking for a way to “effectively measure the creative potential of their rocket scientists and engineers” and they had Dr. George Land and Dr. Beth Jarman develop a test designed to identify the capacity for divergent thinking and creativity.

“They wanted to explore and try to understand the true source of creativity better.”

– Study Shows We Are Born Creative Geniuses But The ‘Education’ System Dumbs Us Down

Land and Jarman were curious to see what test results would look like if they tested a more diverse group of people, and a younger group of people. So they went and found 1,600 children between 4-5 years old and tested them.

“98% of them scored at genius level”

– Study Shows We Are Born Creative Geniuses But The ‘Education’ System Dumbs Us Down

98% of pre-schoolers were considered creative geniuses. This was a surprisingly high number, so they started testing the same group of children as they grew up. By grade school, only 30% of the children were considered creative geniuses. By high school, it was only 12%. This was not a good sign.

They conducted the same test on a group of adults, and the results were STILL trending down. Less than 2% of the adults tested in studies were creative geniuses.

Less than 2%.

So Ken Robinson had a really good observation. By the time we finish school, we’re probably much less creative than we were going in. The really bad news is that creativity is one of the most in-demand 21st Century skills. We know that in order to keep up with the future of work, we all need to be able to come up with new solutions to new problems, and we can’t do that if we don’t have creative geniuses leading the charge.

Educating for the future of work means that we can’t do things the way that they have always been done.

NASA’s Study on children: How Traditional Schooling Reduces Creative Spark George Land’s eye-opening findings in a study commissioned by NASA highlight a concerning decline in creative genius from childhood to adulthood.

The traditional educational setup emerges as a potential culprit, sparking discussions on fostering divergent thinking to revive innate creativity

In the late 1960s, NASA was keen on hiring innovative minds. To achieve this, they sought to understand the nature of creative genius and commissioned a study led by George Land. The focus was on young children, aged 3 to 5, as they embarked on a journey to decipher creativity. A group of 1,600 kids enrolled in a Head Start program were subjected to a creativity test initially crafted for NASA recruits. The results were startling; 98% of these youngsters were labeled as creative geniuses. However, a follow-up revealed a concerning trend. The genius tag dropped to 30% at age 10 and further down to 12% at age 15. When compared to adults, only a dismal 2% maintained this level of creative genius. George Land didn’t stop there. He took to a TEDxTucson stage to share these findings. He identified two forms of thinking; divergent, linked to imagination and new ideas, and convergent, related to judgement and evaluation. Land noted a troubling scenario in the educational realm; both thinking forms were being forced to coexist, leading to a cognitive clash that suppressed creativity. He argued that this educational model, promoting simultaneous divergent and convergent thinking, was a major culprit in the decline of creative genius as children transitioned through school. Land’s study, dubbed as one of the longest experiments in history, portrayed a glaring issue. The traditional educational setup seemed to be stifling the natural creative prowess of children, morphing them into less creative adults. This longitudinal exploration by Land and his team revealed a pressing need; a call for an educational overhaul to nurture rather than suppress the inherent creativity within individuals. Land’s narrative hints at a potential goldmine of creativity, waiting to be tapped, if only the educational paradigms are shifted to favor divergent thinking. His work remains a seminal discourse, urging a rekindling of the creative genius within by revisiting the educational structures in place. Through his eyes, the journey of nurturing creative genius is akin to rediscovering the boundless imaginative vistas once traversed with ease during the tender ages of 5.

We are born creative geniuses and the education system dumbs us down, according to NASA scientists

Our natural creative genius is stifled from the time we are born.

At TEDxTucson, Dr. George Land dropped a bombshell when he told his audience about the shocking result of a creativity test developed for NASA but subsequently used to test school children (see the full video below).

NASA had contacted Dr George Land and Beth Jarman to develop a highly specialized test that would give them the means to effectively measure the creative potential of NASA’s rocket scientists and engineers. The test turned out to be very successful for NASA’s purposes, but the scientists were left with a few questions: where does creativity come from? Are some people born with it or is it learned? Or does it come from our experience?

The scientists then gave the test to 1,600 children between the ages of 4 and 5. What they found shocked them.
This is a test that looks at the ability to come up with new, different and innovative ideas to problems. What percentage of those children do you think fell in the genius category of imagination?

A full 98 percent!

It gets more interesting
But this is not the real story. The scientists were so astonished that they decided to make it a longitudinal study and tested the children again five years later when they were ten years old.

The result? Only 30 percent of the children now fell in the genius category of imagination.

When the kids were tested at 15 years the figure had dropped to 12 percent!

What about us adults? How many of us are still in contact with our creative genius after years of schooling?

Sadly, only 2 percent.

And for those who question the consistency of these results — or think they may be isolated incidences — these results have actually been replicated more than a million times, reports Gavin Nascimento whose article first alerted me to this amazing study and its shocking implication: that the school system, our education, robs us of our creative genius.

“The reasoning for this is not too difficult to apprehend; school, as we plainly call it, is an institution that has historically been put in place to ultimately serve the wants of the ruling class, not the common people.”

“In order for the so-called elite to maintain their lavish life styles of overt luxury — where they contribute the least but enjoy the most — they understand that children must be dumbed down and brainwashed to accept (and even serve) their rapacious system of artificial scarcity, unending exploitation, and incessant war,” writes Nascimento.

What now? Can we recuperate our creativity?
Land says we have the ability to be at 98 percent if we want to. From what they found from the studies with children and from how brains work, there are two kinds of thinking that take place in the brain. Both use different parts of the brain and it’s a totally different kind of paradigm in the sense of how it forms something in our minds.

One is called divergent — that’s imagination, used for generating new possibilities. The other is called convergent — that’s when you’re making a judgement, you’re making a decision, you’re testing something, you’re criticizing, you’re evaluating.

So divergent thinking works like an accelerator and convergent thinking puts a brake on our best efforts.

“We found that what happens to these children, as we educate them, we teach them to do both kinds of thinking at the same time”, says Land.

When someone asks you to come up with new ideas, as you come up with them what you mostly learn at school is to immediately look and see: “We tried that before”, “That’s dumb idea”, “It won’t work” and so forth.

This is the point and this is what we must stop doing:

“When we actually looking inside the brain we find that neurons are fighting each other and actually diminishing the power of the brain because we’re constantly judging, criticising and censoring,” says Land.

“If we operate under fear we use a smaller part of the brain, but when we use creative thinking the brain just lights up.”

What’s the solution?
We need to find that five-year old again. That capability that we as a five-year-old possessed, never goes away.

“That is something you exercise every day when you’re dreaming,” Land reminds us.

How do you go about finding that five-year-old?

Land challenges us all: Tomorrow, you take a table fork, turn your five-year-old on and come up with 25 or 30 ideas on how to improve on the table fork.

We are born creative thinkers

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98% OF 5 YEAR OLDS ARE CREATIVE GENIUSES AND YOU CAN BE TOO

There lies a common misconception that creativity is intrinsic. That creative geniuses are simply born with an astounding predisposition for a heightened creative output. However, modern research has failed to prove that creativity is genetic and many creative geniuses, across industries, attribute their creative achievements not to a natural born gift, but rather to hard-work and resilience.

Although creativity remains elusive and difficult to measure, Dr. George Land and Dr. Beth Jarman successfully developed a test meant to measure the test takers’ creative potential and capacity for divergent thinking, a free flowing, ‘non-linear’ thought process that promotes idea creation and problem solving. Originally developed in order to help NASA find the most innovative scientists and engineers, the test was later repurposed and given to children over a span of a decade.

The children of this study were first tested at the ages of 5, then again at 10, and 15 years old. Beginning at the age of 5, the results of Land and Jarman’s creativity test suggested that 98% of 5-year old children were creative geniuses capable of divergent thinking that is free of judgement. However, by the age of 10, only 30% retested at a creative genius level and by 15, only 12% qualified to be creative geniuses. A fourth test was then administered to random adults above the age of 25 which resulted in only 2% of them testing in a creative genius score range.

Land and Jarman’s study focused in on divergent thinking and convergent thinking, a thought process that uses critical thinking and logic to solve a problem. The study established that these two types of creative thinking are necessary for innovation, and further proved that children around the age of 5 consistently meet the requirements of a creative genius. The results of this test made it possible to understand that creativity is a skill that must be strengthened and honed over time, instead of inherited. Everyone is born with the capacity and potential of being a creative genius. The problem arises as we begin to age and lose access to this potential.

However, Land and Jarman’s creativity test failed to reveal any correlation as to why creativity is seemingly decreasing with age. While defaulting to an aging brain might be the simplest solution, Land instead wrote, “What we have concluded is that non-creative behavior is learned.”

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While the capacity for being a creative genius may be within us all, creativity has continually been devalued not just by the education system but by society as a whole. Within the school system, the creative curriculum budget is often the first cut when budget cuts must be made. Artistic pursuits, in terms of career, are often looked down upon because of a lack of opportunity and economic stability.

The education system has not adapted to the 21st century. The current functioning of the American education system fails to emphasize both styles of creative thinking needed for innovation. The modern education system, developed in the early 1900’s, and mostly unchanged in the last 100 years, was initially focused on training children to enter the workforce of the industrial age. In this way, the education system focused on convergent thinking in order to highlight direction-following, fact memorizations, and task completion. The education system discourages curiosity and wrong answers, instead promoting perfectionism and blind recitation of facts which severely discredits any creative itch or pursuit. The education system’s emphasis on convergent thinking, and the ability to produce the one and only correct answer, forces children to lose access to their ability to think divergently and judgement free.

Still, we do not simply lose our capacity to think creatively, rather we fall out of touch with these skills the less and less they are used. In order to regain access to your inner creative genius, the skills associated with divergent thinking must be built up and strengthened like a muscle. While a myriad of exercises exists to help one enter creative flow, a state of hyper-divergent thinking, cannabis, in smaller doses, can also help reconnect yourself with your inner-creative genius as it can help people escape from their typical thought process and gain access to new perspectives.

Although the education system continues to focus on nurturing convergent thinking, one’s capacity for divergent thinking is not lost or gone, just weakened. The ability to think divergently is within everyone, it is just a matter if whether you are ready to strengthen those skillsets and apply them to your everyday life.

Everyone has quite literally been taught to think in a more linear, non-creative manner, but reintegrating creativity into your life begins by connecting with yourself and re-wiring everyday thinking habits. By connecting with yourself, and developing a non-judgmental way of thought, the creative genius and divergent thinker within us can be reawakened and strengthened.

References :

George Land`s Ted Talk – The Failure of Success. source

The Waste of Creative Talents – source

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A long time ago, there was a huge apple tree. A little boy loved to come and play around it everyday. He climbed to the tree top, ate the apples, and took a nap under the shadow.

He loved the tree and the tree loved to play with him. Time went by, the little boy had grown up and he no longer played around the tree every day.

One day, the boy came back to the tree and he looked sad.

“Come and play with me”, the tree asked the boy.

“I am no longer a kid, I do not play around trees any more” the boy replied.

“I want toys. I need money to buy them.”

“Sorry, but I do not have money, but you can pick all my apples and sell them. So, you will have money.”

The boy was so excited. He grabbed all the apples on the tree and left happily. The boy never came back after he picked the apples. The tree was sad.

One day, the boy who now turned into a man returned and the tree was excited.

“Come and play with me” the tree said.

“I do not have time to play. I have to work for my family. We need a house for shelter. Can you help me?”

“Sorry, but I do not have any house. But you can chop off my branches to build your house.” So the man cut all the branches of the tree and left happily. The tree was glad to see him happy but the man never came back since then. The tree was again lonely and sad.

One hot summer day, the man returned and the tree was delighted.

“Come and play with me!” the tree said.

“I am getting old. I want to go sailing to relax myself. Can you give me a boat?” said the man.

“Use my trunk to build your boat. You can sail far away and be happy.”

So the man cut the tree trunk to make a boat. He went sailing and never showed up for a long time.

Finally, the man returned after many years. “Sorry, my boy. But I do not have anything for you anymore. No more apples for you”, the tree said. “No problem, I do not have any teeth to bite” the
man replied.

“No more trunk for you to climb on.” “I am too old for that now” the man said. “I really cannot give you anything, the only thing left is my dying roots,” the tree said with tears.

“I do not need much now, just a place to rest. I am tired after all these years,” the man replied.

“Good! Old tree roots are the best place to lean on and rest, come sit down with me and rest.” The man sat down and the tree was glad and smiled with tєαяs.

This is a story of everyone. The tree is like our parents. When we were young, we loved to play with our Mum and Dad. When we grow up, we leave them; only come to them when we need something or when we are in trouble. No matter what, parents will always be there and give everything they could just to make you happy.

You may think the boy is cruel to the tree, but that is how all of us treat our parents. We take them for granted; we don’t appreciate all they do for us, until it’s too late.

LESSON OF THE STORY:

Treat your parents with loving care. For you will know their value, when you see their empty chair. We never know the love of our parents for us; till we have become parents .

Oklahoma family documents journey as pet octopus has 50 babies

Just two months after the family had welcomed their new pet, Terrance,

she began laying several eggs

One Oklahoma family is growing after its pet octopus laid 50 eggs late last year, according to the Clifford family’s TikTok account @doctoktupus.

In October, Cameron Clifford, lovingly dubbed “octodad,” bought his son an adult female Bimac Octopus from California and named her Terrance. In December, Terrance laid 50 eggs that began hatching in February.

Clifford has been documenting the family’s journey on TikTok.

Boy’s pet octopus shocks family by giving birth to 50 babies

“Surprising my son with an aquarium so he can fulfill a lifelong dream of owning a pet octopus,” Clifford wrote in a March video as his son tearfully thanked him for the surprise.

Terrance arrived at the family’s home in a clear plastic bag inside of a styrofoam box. The following videos on their account show the Clifford family setting up and taking care of Terrance’s new home.

“Terrance is one social cephalopod—she requires lots of daily stimulation/attention to stay healthy and happy” one of the videos is captioned.

Just two months after the family had welcomed Terrance, she began laying several eggs. According to the University of Chicago, a mother octopus lays her eggs and then begins to stop eating, causing her to die before her offspring is born.

On March 26, the Cliffords posted an update saying they expected Terrance to die in the following weeks. Much to their surprise, Terrance is still thriving.

“We had always stayed in constant contact with our bimac experts, one of which had cared for dozens of bimacs through the years, and none of them had ever laid fertile eggs,” the family explained in a clip. “Even educational and research facilities struggle with hatching them in captivity but this occurred 3 feet from my son’s bed in Central Oklahoma,” the post continued.

Soon enough, Terrance’s tank was full of octopus toddlers.

Their video diary chronicles the lengths the Clifford parents went to take care of Terrance and her offspring, including extensive research.

Although not all 50 hatchlings were able to survive, the family welcomed Pearl, Melinda, Jay-Sea, Sea-yonceeé, Rocket Larry, and a few others to their growing family.

Terrance continues to be fed by hand for now while the babies stay with a local reptile scientist, Clifford told the New York Post.

The family is looking for professional care for the hatchlings. source

Terrance the octopus came to live with a family. Then she laid dozens of eggs

It’s not all that unusual to see octopus on a restaurant menu. But an octopus as a family pet?

Cameron Clifford of Edmond, Okla. says his 9-year-old son Cal is a huge fan of the eight-legged creatures.

“One of the funny things, the misconceptions I think that people assume, is that this was kind of like a flavor of the week for my son, you know, and we’re kind of just these parents that will placate him with any material thing,” Clifford told NPR. “But he’s a real bright kid and he has absolutely loved octopuses since he was, like, 2 years old.”

So Clifford decided to investigate, and learned that it was possible to order an octopus from the local aquarium store.

When Cal came home from school to find all of the equipment it would take to house a pet octopus, he was completely overcome. Clifford filmed the response and posted it to TikTok, starting a journey the family would continue to document.

After days of calibrating the water in an enormous tank to be sure it could support a cephalopod, the two-spot octopus they named Terrance arrived.

Angelina Komatovich is a marine biologist at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa, Calif., who has taken care of octopuses professionally.

“When I first heard of Terrance the octopus, I was actually very surprised to find out that there was a two-spot octopus living all the way across the country in Oklahoma,” she told NPR. “But in that aquarium, they had everything that they needed. They had the cold water. They had a nice sized aquarium for this octopus to live in. But it was really cool to see that this octopus was sourced from a reputable place and being very well taken care of.”

Though the Clifford family was as prepared as possible to welcome Terrance, there was one thing they missed. It turns out Terrance was pregnant. And she laid dozens of eggs.

Terrance’s family has grown considerably.

Cameron Clifford

Now Clifford and Cal, with help from a friend, are taking care of more than 20 tiny octopus babies, along with Terrance. They need around-the-clock care, and even then, Komatovich says, few are likely to survive.

“Only one or two of these would be expected to live into adulthood in an aquarium setting under perfect conditions,” she said. “But that’s a lot of octopuses for one family to take care of.”

Terrance is doing well after launching her many offspring, but the Clifford family isn’t taking that for granted. Once a two-spot octopus lays her eggs, she typically won’t live much longer.

The jury is still out on whether one of Terrance’s babies will become a permanent member of the Clifford household.

But come what may, Komatovich believes Cal has a bright future ahead of him.

“I definitely see a future marine biologist right there. And it’s so exciting to see someone so young interested in cephalopods,” she said. source

Boy’s pet octopus shocks family by giving birth to 50 babies

EDMOND, Okla. (CNN) – An Oklahoma boy had dreamed of owning an octopus since he was 2, but when his dream became reality, he suddenly ended up with 50 of them when his pet gave birth.

Cal Clifford, 9, cried with joy when his parents gave him the tank he would soon use to hold his new pet octopus. The octopus itself was delivered in a plastic bag to the family.

Cal and his family named the octopus Terrance, and their whole experience with their new pet was documented on TikTok.

“Terrance loves to welcome us every time we visit her. High-eight,” said Cal in a video on TikTok.

Within weeks, Cal’s dad, Cameron Clifford, says the family found out that the octopus was a female.

Terrance, newly redubbed Terry, started acting weird, such as not leaving the cave in her tank, the family said on TikTok. They then noticed she had laid eggs, but no one imagined they’d been fertilized.

“The uh-oh moment was definitely when the first one hatched,” Clifford said.

Suddenly, one octopus had become many. Cal got emotional as he took a first look at the hatchlings – 50 in total. Each baby had to be cared for in a separate container.

“The babies will actually cannibalize each other,” Clifford said.

They were given names like Rocket Larry, Squid Cudi, Swim Shady, Jay-Sea and Sea-Yoncé, according to the Associated Press.

The family learned that octopuses make for expensive pets. Leaks in the tank system required vacuuming carpets and re-laying ruined floors.

“I wish my son’s favorite animal had been a hamster,” said Clifford in a TikTok video.

Almost half of the baby octopuses survived, and they are destined for educational institutions.

Sadly, Terry died just a few months later and was buried in the Cliffords’ backyard. It’s typical for her species of octopus that the mom dies after laying eggs.

Octopuses generally live between one to five years, according to the American Veterinary Medical Association. source

Among the more curious and enigmatic quotes that I read about today [1] was the following quote from Socrates, “An honest man is always a child.” As I sometimes do, I wanted to see what other people thought about this quote before diving in myself and reflecting on it, but what I found, while probably in the right ballpark, was not particularly profound. Perhaps because our age is full of young people who are in such a hurry to grow up that they do not appreciate (nor do others appreciate, sadly) what a blessing it is to be young and free from the cares and worries that come with being an adult or thinking like one, a quote like this can easily be seen as saying something bad about being honest. Those who view honesty as a sort of vulnerability to the trickery and evil of others certainly see in honesty a certain amount of vulnerability, and in a world where people are quick to take advantage, this is the sort of vulnerability that may easily seem like a luxury that we cannot afford.

I do not think this particular view of Socrates’ quote is really all that beneficial to us, if we wish to encourage ourselves and others to be people of basic honesty and integrity. Let us examine a few elements related to what it means to be a child, starting with a familiar passage of the Bible: Matthew 18:1-5: “At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” Then Jesus called a little child to Him, set him in the midst of them, and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever receives one little child like this in My name receives Me. “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea. Woe to the world because of offenses! For offenses must come, but woe to that man by whom the offense comes!”” This is a familiar passage, and though it does not deal directly with honesty, it does state very clearly that being like a child in some fashion is necessary to enter into salvation, and that those who take advantage of the innocent will face fearsome judgment for it (given that it would be better for them not to be born). We ought to reflect, therefore, that it is very good, at least in some ways, to be like a child, regardless of the dangers that honest people face in a corrupt world where people seek to take advantage of the naive or to use the truth in order to destroy others.

What makes an honest man like a child though? Most children are not particularly good liars, with fairly obvious tells. This is not to say that children do not try to disguise and hide, but rather they do not tend to be very good at it, and for that we can be glad. It is hard enough to learn how to communicate what one thinks and feels and wants honestly when one is small that there is scarce capacity to engage in more complicated deception. Little ones are well known, and treasured, for their ability to say awkward and uncomfortable but often necessary truths. I tend to find such honesty rather pleasing, given that I tend to find it wearisome to deal with people who are not candid or open or interested in honest communication. Truly, if one wants honest communication, there are only a few places one can go to find communication, and it will generally be from those people who respond to open communication and who show themselves trustworthy over time.

Yet that is not all that is meant by honesty. I suppose it is not merely the lack of deception, but also the sensitivity to others and to the world around us that makes an honest man like a child. Honesty is not merely about the absence of lies, or merely the revealing of what is inside of us. Rather, it is also about being open to the world around us. This is a large part about why we need to be like children in order to find salvation, because salvation is not so much about seeing what is already within us, as New Age mystics would have us do, but rather to have the courage to accept truth and revelation from above, and to apply it in our lives. Such a willingness to grow and learn and mature and develop can only come when one retains something of the child inside of us, which reminds us that we are not so wise as we might be willing to think of ourselves. Let us hope we can all keep that nature of a child within us, regardless of how the world around us is. Let us do so with bravery, but with no illusions about how that world works. source

PSALM 91

1 He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.

² I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.

³ Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence.

⁴ He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.

⁵  Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day;

⁶ Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday.

⁷ A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee.

⁸ Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked.

⁹ Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation;

¹⁰ There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.

¹¹ For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.

¹² They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.

¹³ Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet.

¹⁴ Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known my name.

¹⁵ He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him.

¹⁶ With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation.

If you have faith as small as a mustard seed…nothing will be impossible for you! – Matthew 17:20

By Oral Roberts•3 Minutes source

A Mustard Flavored Kingdom

Throughout the age of the Old Testament and into the time of Jesus it was a common metaphor to speak of a kingdom as a tree. We see this in scriptures such as Ezekiel 17:22-24, 31:6 Daniel 4:10-12 which use a picture of a tree to describe a nation or a kingdom. The Commentary on the New Testament Use of The Old Testament (USA CANADA) talks about how “Mark 4:30-32 is an ironic fulfillment of Ezekiel 17:23 the lowly annual shrub rather than a might cedar, lamb not a lion maybe. The people expected a mighty cedar, but God came as a lowly shrub which would be exalted over all else.”

The lost message of the Kingdom of God hidden here in the parable of the mustard seed, Jesus the great shrub has come to rule the world. Not a mighty cedar or acacia, or mulberry the humble mustard shrub despite its size and appearance had sprouted and would rule over all. Jesus didn’t come as a superpowered reincarnation of King David, He came as the suffering servant and laid hold of a greater kingdom then anyone of that time ever imagined.

The people and religious leaders were looking for a cedar but got a shrub, so they rejected Him. They were looking for a warrior but got a shepherd, so they persecuted Him. They were looking for an angel of death but got the forgiving Son of God, so they killed Him.

They forgot about Isaiah 11:1 and Jeremiah 23:5-6 where God spoke about a humble branch which was coming to rule and exercise judgment on the people. Jesus executed judgment on sin, He rules over His covenant people and one day He will judge those who rejected His Kingship.

We can’t have the benefits of mustard seed faith until we bow down before the mustard tree of Christ. None of what we claim to believe matters at all if Jesus isn’t the King of not just the universe but our individual lives. Our faith doesn’t matter, the miracles we see doesn’t matter the lives we see changed doesn’t matter if Jesus isn’t our King and if we don’t act as grateful adopted servants.

Finding a Nest in His Branches

The last part of the parable has Jesus speaking about the birds of the air making nests in the branches of the fully-grown mustard tree. We take this statement for granted and don’t realize that to the disciples this was ridiculous. You see because the mustard tree regrows every year it can’t be developed enough to be ready for the time when birds make their nests. If one tried the branches would be too small or tender to support just a bird on it let alone a nest.

Here Jesus is again speaking in irony, just as the lowly shrub is King of the forest, so to is this tree which couldn’t before support dwelling places for the birds now be able to provide shelter and covering for them (Daniel 4:12).

We see then that Jesus has come to bring us a covering for our lives and that it is a foundational part of our faith. That covering of grace and atonement is our constant reminder that we can trust Him and remain committed to Him despite the problems of the world. Ezekiel used this same picture of birds finding rest in a tree to describe Egypt in Ezekiel 31:6, so how much grander and wonderous should that covering and shelter be for us who follow Christ our King.

Through faith we are able to go from mustard seeds to mustard trees and see great and mighty things happen in our lives. But we are only able to see such a transformation because Jesus the first seed which fell into the ground then died and came back as a King who has brought us under His covering of atonement. Now as redeemed, adopted servants we go out into the world and deposit new seeds into the ground so the whole world can be covered by the offspring of the great mustard tree.

Question: What can you do today to recognize Jesus as the King of your life?

We as humans should consitantly evaluate our journey with God and how prayers, work and faith when combined as a whole yield solid healthy happy peaceful fruit.

Faith That Transforms A Mustard Seed Into A Mustard Tree Cameron Conway is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Planting the Seed of the Gospel

You probably know of a family in need of an intervention by God. And so you’ve been praying for them. Don’t stop. Prayer works. But there is another step that you need to take in order to see that family transformed by God’s power.

Acts 16:30-14 shows us what that step is. In this passage Paul and Silas had been flogged and imprisoned for the sake of the Gospel. But at midnight, as they sang praises unto God, there was an earthquake, and the door of each prison cell was opened. But a miracle happened. Although the cell doors were opened none of the prisoners were able to escape. This led the jailer to ask the following question:

Sirs, what must I do to be saved? ³¹ They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, along with everyone in your household. ³² And they shared the word of the Lord with him and with all who lived in his household.³³ Even at that hour of the night, the jailer cared for them and washed their wounds. Then he and everyone in his household were immediately baptized.³⁴ He brought them into his house and set a meal before them, and he and his entire household rejoiced because they all believed in God. (NLT)

Notice the following:

1. Gospel: In verse 32 Paul and Silas share the good news about Jesus with the jailer and his family.

2. Faith: In verse 31 the jailer is told to believe in the Lord and in verse 33 the jailer and his household express their faith in Jesus by getting baptized in water.

3. Rejoicing: In verse 34 the jailer and his household rejoice because they all have believed in God.

Prayer for a family in need of God’s intervention is necessary. But prayer must be accompanied with step 2, the proclamation of the good news of Jesus.

God has made it so that salvation, transformation and new life can only come about through the sharing of the gospel. In Mark 4:14 Jesus compares the sharing of the gospel message to that of planting seed. It says, The farmer plants seed by taking God’s word to others. (NLT). And Jesus said in Mark 4:20, And the seed that fell on good soil represents those who hear and accept God’s word and produce a harvest of thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times as much as had been planted! (NLT) The gospel message must be planted in people’s hearts before it can germinate and bring about the fruit of salvation. But it can only be planted by people hearing it.

Paul puts it this way in Romans 10:14: How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? (ESV)

So continue praying for that family that needs an intervention from God. But also share the good news of Jesus with them. God wants families everywhere to experience the joy that comes from salvation. But for that to happen we must pray and proclaim.

By Pastor John

There are few things in life as relentlessly desired and vitally important as a father’s love. As Pam Brown said, “Dads are most ordinary men turned by love into heroes, adventurers, story-tellers, and singers of song.”

Such love is crucial for a child’s development of personal identity, worldview, and future family patterns. Here are 10 ways a dad should express love to his children.

1. Tenderness

A father’s love actually should be tender—and a child has the ability to tap into the tenderness of a man’s heart like nothing else. The man who will unapologetically take a stand for his family is also the same man who needs to be found on his knees regularly and tenderly playing with his children.

2. Empathy

When children fall down or experience physical pain, they naturally run to momma, because moms naturally know how to show empathy. As fathers, we have the same opportunity to show love to our children by momentarily stepping into their world through empathy. It just takes a little more effort.

3. Sacrifice

A father’s love involves sacrifice. The daily grind can be very taxing in order for a father to provide financially and sufficiently for his family. The long hours, the short nights, and the mental and physical drain often can threaten the time and attention he wants to give to his family. Yet a loving father strives to balance making sacrifices both on the job and in the home.

4. Attention

A loving father understands that his children are not a bother but a blessing. They are not additional background noise in his busy life. They are an investment worth making. They are not a waste of his time, but worthy of his attention. They desire it. They need it. And so he regularly tries to give it to them.

5. Affection

Children long for their parents’ affection and especially physical affection from a father. Multiple studies have shown that this is one of the cornerstones of healthy development and strong self-esteem. Daily hugs, time spent snuggling on the couch, or wrestling matches on the floor—children and fathers were made for moments like these.

6. Gentleness

The ability of a father to keep his cool when things get heated is a quality that children need to see often. Self-controlled gentleness and kindness when life and children are anything but speak love to a child. Fathers have the privilege of intentionally being gentle with the smallest people—their children.

7. Firmness

While gentleness is needed, it must be balanced with firmness when necessary as well. A dad who says what he means and means what he says is a loving gift to his children. Kids desire the balance and boundaries they find from a father’s authority and expectations.

8. Security

Children feel secure because of a father’s love. They feel loved simply by their father’s presence, provision, and protection. There is something undeniably secure about having a loving father in the home, no matter what else may be going on outside the home.

9. Approval

Children long for their father’s approval. They desire for you to be proud of them. And if they don’t find your approval while they are young, they may unhealthily seek approval elsewhere for years to come. A dad’s approval can speak love to a child like nothing else.

10. Unconditional Love

Above all, the greatest way a father can love his child is unconditionally. For children to know that nothing can separate them from their father’s love is the ultimate gift and a reflection of their Heavenly Father’s love. source

Importance of Children Feeling The Love of their Dad – 10 Ways for Kids to Feel Loved by Their Fathers

Children need love from both their mothers and fathers for their holistic development. The role of fathers in a child’s life is crucial and unique, as they provide distinct forms of love and support that contribute to a child’s emotional, cognitive, and social well-being. Here are some reasons why kids need to feel love from their fathers:

1. Emotional bonding: Fathers play a crucial role in forming emotional bonds with their children. Through their love, care, and attention, fathers help children develop a sense of security, trust, and emotional intimacy. Children who feel loved by their fathers are more likely to develop healthy emotional regulation skills, have higher self-esteem, and build strong relationships with others.
2. Emotional development: Fathers play a critical role in their children’s emotional development. The love and affection of a father can help children develop a strong sense of self-worth and self-esteem. It provides them with a secure emotional foundation, which can have a positive impact on their overall emotional well-being.
3. Positive male role model: Fathers serve as an important male role model for their children, especially for boys. Fathers can teach boys about healthy masculinity, respect, and empathy towards others. They can also model positive behaviors, such as responsible decision-making, communication skills, and conflict resolution, which can shape the child’s understanding of healthy relationships and social interactions.
4. Cognitive development: Fathers play a crucial role in fostering cognitive development in their children. Fathers engage in play, storytelling, and other interactive activities that promote language development, cognitive skills, and creativity. Fathers also provide a different perspective and style of parenting compared to mothers, which helps children develop a diverse range of cognitive skills and problem-solving abilities.
5. Self-identity: Fathers can help children develop a positive sense of self-identity. By providing love, acceptance, and affirmation, fathers can help their children build a healthy self-concept and self-esteem. This allows children to feel valued, accepted, and loved for who they are, which is essential for their emotional and psychological well-being.
6. Social skills: Fathers play a critical role in helping their children develop social skills. Through their interactions, fathers can teach children important social skills such as communication, empathy, and cooperation. Fathers can also provide guidance and support in navigating social situations, building friendships, and understanding social norms, which are crucial for a child’s social and emotional development.
7. Resilience: Fathers can help their children develop resilience, the ability to cope with challenges and setbacks in life. Fathers who provide a supportive and loving presence can help children develop a sense of security and confidence, which in turn helps them develop resilience to face life’s challenges with a positive attitude.
8. Bonding and attachment: The bond between a father and his child is unique and special. It helps foster a sense of attachment and connection that can create a strong emotional bond between them. This bond can provide children with a sense of security and stability, helping them navigate the challenges of life with confidence.
9. Role modeling: Fathers serve as important role models for their children, especially for sons. A loving and involved father can teach his children important values, attitudes, and behaviors, such as empathy, kindness, respect, and responsibility. Children often learn by observing their fathers’ actions, and a father who expresses love and affection can set a positive example for their children to emulate in their own relationships.
10. Healthy relationships: Fathers who express love and affection towards their children help them develop healthy expectations for relationships in their lives. When children experience a loving relationship with their fathers, they are more likely to seek and expect healthy, loving relationships in their future interactions with others. It can also help them develop healthy communication and emotional expression skills, which are essential for building meaningful relationships.
11. Overall well-being: Love and affection from fathers contribute to a child’s overall well-being. It can positively impact their mental, emotional, and even physical health. Children who feel loved by their fathers are more likely to have higher self-esteem, better mental health, and improved overall well-being.

In summary, children need to feel love from their fathers as it contributes to their emotional, cognitive, and social well-being. Fathers play a unique and important role in their children’s lives, providing emotional bonding, positive male role modeling, cognitive development, self-identity, social skills, and resilience. It is important for fathers to actively participate in their children’s lives and provide unconditional love and support for their healthy. The love and affection of fathers are crucial for children’s emotional, social, and psychological development. Fathers who express love and affection towards their children provide them with a solid foundation for healthy emotional development, positive relationships, and overall well-being. It’s important for fathers to actively demonstrate their love for their children and be actively involved in their lives to help them thrive and flourish. by GPT

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Importance of Children Feeling The Love of their Dad – 10 Ways for Kids to Feel Loved by Their Fathers