Winner of the tiny painting (And new characters :)

And the winner of the tiny painting is: HEIDI KENNEY! Yay Heidi!!! And thank you sooo much to everyone who participated in this giveaway! This time I opened the book myself (with my eyes closed) in page 31 :) If you didn't win the tiny painting don't worry because there will be more chances to win a little something in the future. I promise to keep these giveaways going once a week! :)

Now I am so excited to introduce you to Miss Albertina and her special student Pascuale. Miss Albertina is a fourth grade Teacher from the Elementary School where she has been teaching for over 20 years now. One day Pacuale's Mom and Dad invited Miss Albertina for lunch because they wanted to talk to her about their son.

Pascuale's parents were so concerned about their son because he didn't show any interest in the world, he was sad and he did not want to go to school. Pascuale's parents were desperate and they thought that Miss Albertina could come out with some magic idea to help him since they had already tried everything.

Miss Albertina said: OK, let me think about this an I will call you during the weekend with a solution. Pascuale's parents waited for the call with their hearts full of hope. Then on Sunday night after Pascuale was already in bed Miss Albertina called and she said: I have the solution!

And now we should be thinking about what the magic solution was! This is something that I do with Natalie all the time, I start telling her a story and then I let her create the rest of it. In the beginning she got mad at me but now she loves it! I started doing this since she was very little and it is amazing how this game pushes her to be creative and to come out with her own ideas. In the beginning her stories were pretty basic but now they are getting more and more sophisticated. She makes up lots of problems and then she finds the solutions to them. When she is talking I remain as quiet as possible which makes her keep going, she loves me to be a good listener. The best part of it is that then she does the same thing in real life. Natalie is so resourceful, her level of frustration is lower and lower everyday because she is getting so used to finding solutions by herself and it all started in her imagination. I didn't do the job for her, I just created the conditions for Natalie to use her own mind and I am so impressed with the results.

We, as adults, are not different from children. We, even more than them, need to come out with solutions to our daily problems and the quality of these solutions is directly connected to our creativity. If we feel comfortable being creative in our imagination then we will feel comfortable being creative in real life. I try to teach myself how to see problems not exactly as problems but as opportunities to practice my creativity. When I see problems this way I get more excited about finding solutions, it really helps me see life with positive eyes. Problems will keep coming no matter what, I am so sure about it. That's why the point of this post is for us to think about our "brain muscles" and about using them as often as possible. And right now I am doing that because I am thinking about all the possible magic solutions that Miss Eduardina could come out with in order to help Pascuale :)

I wish you a happy and creative Monday my friend!
(And don't worry about Pascuale because he is going to be a happy boy very soon!)
See you tomorrow!
Elsita :)

(Miss Eduardina, little Pascuale, the magic bag that he is in and the three little drawings are now available here)

Comments

[Flassie's Fil'a]

Congratulations Heidi Kenny!

Love how you look at life and the
story that goes along with the
characters you created!

God Bless Your Creative Life and
your Family TOo!!!

[margie oomen]

It is so wonderful that natalie has you to be her creative problem solving coach. You are not telling her the answers to her problems but giving her the environment and inspirational guidance that she needs to come up with her own solutions. She will learn from this lesson skills that she can use for the rest of her life. Please give her a hug from me.

[Marta]

It seems that I'm missing all the giveaways. We used to play a game just like that when I was a child, in school. We did something like that with drawings too, somebody would draw something (like a line or a circle) in a blank page and we had to draw from that. I used to love it but didn't remember it for a long time, until now. Thanks.

[Zime]

Que hermoso trabajo Elsita!! Que tengas una linda semana!!
(^v^)

[Pretty Ditty]

WOW! I love what you wrote about re-thinking a difficult situation as a way to express yourself creatively. I am going to try to practice that and teach my kids how to be creative problem solvers as well. Thank you for sharing.
Jamie

[Du Buh Du Designs]

Beautiful doll :) I remember being in third grade and one of my favorite weekly assignments was when the teacher handed out a paper with an image from a magazine cut out and pasted on it. It was up to us to just start writing a story, a poem or whatever. It was a great exercise and I think the one you are practicing with your daughter is just as valuable. Well said!

[Geo]

I am going to try your technique with the teenage girls I'm taking to camp the first week of June. I think maybe I will also play the finish-the-story game with my husband, tonight, while we are working on a big project together.

As for your story, I can't help but let my imagination do its work. I've spent all the time I had this morning playing wit your story. I was going to leave it here in the comments, but it's getting a little long, and anyway, it's not finished and I have to go back to work. But thank you for the great fun!

[Patricia]

What a wonderful story, and the ending has left me hanging too. I think your storytelling strategy is such a great one, and I will definitely try this once my son is a little older.

[Victoria]

Wonderful post! I love your creative approach and your children are blessed to have such a wise mother!
The greatest gift that my Father gave to me was teaching me that what we view as problems are truly exciting treasures, because they give us the opportunity to allow ourselves to think outside the box. He used to get very happy and excited whenever a seemingly difficult or confusing situation arose! It was a thrill for him! He taught me to think in open, boundless ways, and when it came time to raise my own daughters, his wisdom stayed with me, and it has been a joy to pass his teachings onto my children.

[Alix]

Those are just the words I needed to hear today. thank you

[.girl ferment.]

how very precious.
what a wonderful mother you are.
xx

[Mariel]

Elsita, gracias por estas notas de color y dulzura!!! EStoy suscripta al feed de tu blog y lo disfruto como si se tratara de un regalo para abrir cada dia!!!
Exitos y adelante!

[ei! kumpel]

I like Miss Albertina... I'm so short and she's so tall :)

(oh, I wrote about you in my blog, hope that's ok Dr Elsita!!)

*margarida

[sashwee]

I really love this idea of using an open-ended story with a child, and getting them interested in creative problem-solving. I'm going to do this with my little one!

[Denise]

Inspiración y fascinación. Totalmente una idea que inspira and fascina la menta. Gracias Elsita!

[Kathy Slaughter]

Thank you, Elsita, for sharing these little snapshots of your life with us! You are an inspiration to all us Moms! I LOVE all your little characters and I'm so glad you bring them to life for all of us to enjoy.

[Diana]

You are so creative and thoughtful, lucky Natalie and Diego! Teaching a child to think for themselves is the most wonderful gift.

[sosser]

oh what a good post and story and lesson and doll! i really needed to be reminded of this today, so thank you so much elsa!

[Tina]

Mmmm... What a great story. I'm going to start trying this with my son. He gets so frustrated and says the most horrible things about himself. I've been looking for a way to help. This might be it. Thanks!