“To be creative means to be in love with life. You can be creative only if you love life enough that you want to enhance its beauty, you want to bring a little more music to it, a little more poetry to it, a little more dance to it.” – Osho

As a child, I spent hours in my bedroom writing poetry and short stories. As I found different words and phrases to express my thoughts and emotions, my creative spark grew into a fire that would eventually result in five published books. My childhood hobby inspired a creativity that has benefited me for much of my adult life.

Now, as a mother, I watch how my sons’ hobbies have done the same. Through countless hours of drawing, building, filming, editing, acting, and painting, my boys have become creative young men with a definite passion for the arts. This is why I believe that, though the academics and sports we often push are important, free time to pursue one’s own interests is the birthplace of creativity. Children must have time for hobbies.

Creative hobbies have been linked to better performance at work in studies on adults. In fact, these studies show that people who engage in hobbies are more likely to come up with creative solutions to problems at work and scored 15% to 30% higher on performance rankings in one study. I believe this is just as true with children. It stands to reason that children who engage in creative hobbies will perform better academically.

Better performance isn’t the only benefit of a sparked imagination, of course. More and more research is emerging on the link between happiness and creativity. Creative hobbies reduce stress, build confidence, and lead to greater well-being. Children feel a great sense of achievement when they use their imagination and skills to create something. Visual arts have particular benefit in lowering stress and increasing psychological resilience.