How my kids inspire my art by managing upward

Some creatives worry that having kids will distract them from their art. But I’m lucky that, contrary to some expectations, my kids have actually inspired my art. And lately they’ve definitely pushed me to create far more than they’ve held me back.

As I’ve written previously, my kids inspired me to start sketching. And sketching has helped me to be less precious about my work, to let go of perfectionism and embrace the failures required for any future success.

Also, I’m writing a novel or novella centered around viewing the world through the question of whether we’re living in a simulation. I’ve been interested in the possibility of our world being a simulation for a while now, but I started to make sense of it for a story only after a related conversation with my son.

My daughter continues to inspire me with her art. I love her work, not just because she’s my daughter, but because of her bravery and creativity. Her style is limited due to her age and limited practice and lack of knowledge related to technical ability. But her art is so effective because she leans into what she can do and she never thinks to question if her style should be more sophisticated. Not so long ago, she was working on a graphic novel (though she doesn’t know the term) about a spy. The audacity of this child to think she has the right to be so ambitious! Send those vibes this way, Lil Bit!

My son continues asking questions about the world around him. He’s recently taught me a thing or two, such as the fact that our planet orbits the sun at approximately 67,000 miles per hour! When we coupled that knowledge with the fact that Earth is spinning at almost 1,000 miles per hour (meaning that we’d all die if Earth stopped spinning for just a second), we started asking what does all this motion mean for our world and how we perceive it. By encouraging my son to keep questioning, I’m also encouraging myself. You could argue I’m obligating myself to keep questioning if I want to practice what I preach and lead by example.

Parents so often worry about how they influence their kids while overlooking how their kids might influence them. Kids are the perfect gateway to activities we struggle to make time for as we age, such as creativity, wonder, and focus on play.

While we’re worried about which wisdom to send down to our little ones, let’s not forget to give them the chance to manage upward in the way only they know how.

Goodbye. Adios. Adieu.

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