Popcorn Me: A Lesson in Delaying Your Judgment

Several years ago, I was running a creative thinking workshop for Kindergarteners and their parents. Our overall theme was popcorn, and we brought in five garbage size bags of popped popcorn to eat. My students and I performed a skit, where each of us was a kernel, waiting to “pop” with an idea. I then began to share with them the four essential guidelines for divergent thinking:

1. Delay your judgment. Don't judge an idea- good or bad.
2. Strive for as many ideas as possible. Novelty typically comes after the first 30 ideas generated.
3. Seek Wild and Unusual ideas.
4. Build on other ideas.

“The most important thing”, I stated, “is to NOT judge your ideas. Remember, in divergent thinking, all ideas are good ideas!”

And with that, I gave each parent a pad of post-its to capture ideas, and challenged each parent/child with, “what are all the things we could do with these five large bags of popcorn?”

I could see the kids eyes light up with excitement.

“We could have a movie party!”

“We could build a tower!”

“We could give it away!”

“We could make a popcorn me!” cried one of the 5-year-olds.

“You couldn’t do that” said his mother without hesitation…

“Remember we are using divergent thinking and we need to delay our judgment” I quietly reminded the mother.

“Right. Sorry.”

As parents and teachers, it is often difficult to delay our judgment with silly, wild and unusual ideas. However, this is where we are squelching creativity in our kids. Yes, there is a time and place where it is not appropriate to be creative (I would prefer my son not be creative in how he uses the potty). But there are a hundred opportunities a day that you can allow for those silly ideas to be honored and not put down.

So, as you go about your day, think about how you are responding to the ideas that your kids come up with. Do you react immediately, perhaps without thinking through the possibilities? If so, then why not try delaying your judgment. Find out what happens if you just listen to what they say, without feeling the need to reach a decision.

In a future post, I will explore the idea of affirmative judgment- the principle for convergent thinking - so that when you do respond, you don't hinder your kids creativity.

Popcorn me? Let’s explore that idea. How could we make that happen? I decided to make a "popcorn me" with my son today (although it was the popcorn that doesn't have kernels as my son is under 5). What might your "popcorn me" look like?