The Innovative Parent. Erica Curtis

      

       PRAISE FOR THE INNOVATIVE PARENT:

      “With this wonderful guide you will find a fun and effective way to make your connections with your kids more fulfilling, while cultivating resilience and joy in their lives. Erica Curtis and Ping Ho provide artistic activities involving music, visual images, and dance for deep enrichment and enhancing our relationships with our children as they grow—with innovation, collaboration, and resilience front and center. Bravo, and thank you!”

      —Dr. Daniel J. Siegel, University of California, Los Angeles (New York Times bestselling author of The Whole-Brain Child, Parenting from the Inside Out, and Brainstorm)

      “In crafting The Innovative Parent, Erica Curtis and Ping Ho have condensed decades of experience, both academically and on the front lines of their own lives, into a lively must-read for anyone invested in the self-awareness, success, and health of future generations. It provides compelling and easily digestible instruction for any parent, but also for educators, clinicians, researchers, program administrators, and community health practitioners, who will join parents in benefiting from this book’s combination of witty observations and practical guidance. Designed for use by both novice and expert, the book’s deep insights into the child-learner’s mind and heart provide a beckoning path forward for anyone intrigued by the ability of the arts to engage, activate, inspire, and teach.”

      —Dr. Jeremy Nobel, Harvard University (founder, The Foundation for Art and Healing)

      “What adult wouldn’t benefit from a creative approach to connecting with and engaging kids—theirs or not? Parents and professionals will find ways to promote cooperation, further social-emotional growth, and facilitate fun in the process. Grounded in studies from a variety of disciplines, as well as arts therapy practice, this book will introduce readers to practical techniques for use with people of all ages and challenges, also making it a guide to self-parenting.”

      —Barry M. Cohen, board-certified art therapist and coauthor of Managing Traumatic Stress through Art

      “The Innovative Parent manages to avoid the pitfalls of countless parenting books and tools. It offers sensitive, creative, and mindful parenting techniques that are specific yet flexible. While no child comes with an instruction manual, this book is the closest I’ve found to one in anchoring me—both as a parent and as a creative person—in what I know.”

      —Dr. Einat Metzl, board-certified art therapist and Chair, Loyola Marymount University Department of Marital and Family Therapy

      THE INNOVATIVE PARENT

       The Innovative Parent

      Raising Connected, Happy, Successful Kids through Art

       Erica Curtis and Ping Ho

      SWALLOW PRESS

      OHIO UNIVERSITY PRESS

      ATHENS

      Swallow Press

      An imprint of Ohio University Press, Athens, Ohio 45701

       ohioswallow.com

      © 2019 by Ohio University Press

      All rights reserved

      To obtain permission to quote, reprint, or otherwise reproduce or distribute material from Swallow Press / Ohio University Press publications, please contact our rights and permissions department at [phone] or [phone] (fax).

      Printed in the United States of America

      Swallow Press / Ohio University Press books are printed on acid-free paper ™

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      Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

      Names: Curtis, Erica (Licensed marriage and family therapist), author. | Ho, Ping (Integrative medicine specialist), author.

      Title: The innovative parent : raising connected, happy, successful kids through art / Erica Curtis and Ping Ho.

      Description: Athens, Ohio : wallow Press/Ohio University Press, [2019] | Includes bibliographical references and index.

      Identifiers: LCCN 2018061234| ISBN 9780804012140 (hbk : alk. paper) | ISBN 9780804012157 (pbk) | ISBN 9780804040983 (pdf)

      Subjects: LCSH: Parenting. | Arts and children.

      Classification: LCC HQ755.8 .C88 2019 | DDC 306.874--dc23

      LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018061234

      To Corbyn, Isla, and Darian My steady sources of innovation, inspiration, and joy.

      —E.C.

      To Eve and Halle With whom I sing, dance, drum, and laugh.

      —P.H.

      . . . And to a world full of connected, happy, and successful children.

       Contents

       Preface

       Acknowledgments

       How to Use This Book

       Chapter 1: Talk Less. Draw, Dance, and Sing More

       Why art?

       When words aren’t enough

       Keep parenting goals in mind

       Find the fun

       The not-so-artsy parent

       Chapter 2: Why We Love to Hate Glitter Glue (and Other Struggles with Art)

       Where limits meet freedom of expression

       Messy, loud, and off-key

       Destruction

       Letting go

       Chapter 3: Survive the Day

       Creative cures to conflicts

       Time to brush teeth, doo wop, doo wop

       Behavior is communication (even with siblings)

       Buyers beware

       (Useful) praise