ByIANSlife

November 13, 2021 (IANSlife) Bollywood producer and director, Farah Khan, puts in as much work on the domestic front as she does on the professional front. With three kids growing up under her guidance, Khan knows that confidence and creativity can work wonders for a child. Through her association with WhiteHat Jr, khan has been able to get her thoughts on being a creative parent and instilling the creativity in her children.

 

Read excerpts from her interview with IANSlife. 

As someone who has been working in a creative field for such a long time, what qualities are required for someone to think creatively? How has technology helped you to be more creative in your profession?

Farah: The first quality you require to be creative is that you have to think out of the box. You have to be original. You have to do things that no one else has done before. You have to look at things in a very unusual way.

Technology, of course, has helped in a big way. Whatever you imagine, can be created with the help of the right technology. For example, filmmakers nowadays can create an entire country and unrealistic scenes using the green screen. All superheroes and action movies that we make now are created on green screens.

 

As a parent, how do you nurture creativity in your children?

Farah: Shirish and I work in the creative field. We are not white-collar, blue-collar workers. We are content creators. As a parent, we would like our children to focus more on creative subjects. We often travel with them, show them the latest movies and, expose them to books and art. We have discussions with them after the film is over, etc. We consider extra-curriculum activities to be equivalent to academics and I think it is a very important thing because finally in school it all usually boils down to Maths mei kitna aya? Physica mai kitna aya? 

We are not the kind of parents who would insist that our children to get their physics graphs right. We are those parents who would like them to excel in either storytelling or writing essays. Most children are creative. And so are mine. As a parent, I like them to find the time for painting and for doing ballet and generally being creative.

 

Do you think children are more creative than adults? If yes, what makes them so creative?

Farah: I think children are more creative than adults. If you see a child and you ask them to paint something, they’re likely to create something amazing. I think that is because they are unadulterated. When kids are young, they make the most beautiful paintings, they'll have an orange sky, or they'll have a green sky and orange fields because they're pure.

It's only when adults start telling them aree sky aisa nahi hota hai, Sky toh blue hi hota hai that everything changes. It’s only when other people's opinions start influencing them then they play safe. Otherwise, kids are extremely creative. For them, everything makes is filled with wonder. They are fascinated by everything because everything is new for them. It's only then when we grow up and that we get jaded. It's very important for a creative person also to keep the child inside them alive.

 

Do you think early learning, especially concepts such as coding, can help children hone their creative thinking skills? What kind of development have you seen in your kids’ creative thought processes or problem-solving skills ever since they’ve started learning coding with WhiteHat Jr?

Farah: Yes, definitely! in fact, my kids started a little late. I wish I knew about WhiteHat Jr earlier. I would have loved for them to start when they were seven or eight because I think that's when you can clearly master coding.

For us, this is very exciting. You see, I'm very technologically challenged. Coming from a generation that didn't even have a mobile phone, I was very sure that I wanted my kids to really know how to code because this is how it's going to be in the future. Even when you want to create anything, no one's actually going to physically guide you, it will all be done on the computer through apps or coding. I think the earlier they start, the better the child will be at coding.

I have definitely seen my kids learn a lot. They're making apps now, and their problem-solving skills have definitely become better. They have started thinking for themselves because technology and coding is one area where I can't help them at all. I think that's what you want for your kids, you know? For them to know how to do it on their own and to be independent, and not be spoon-fed. Think for themselves, solve the problem themselves.

 

As the parent of triplets, what are the challenges of teaching and engaging kids of the same age at the same time? How beneficial do you think group study is? Has it resulted in them learning from each other too?

Farah: I think the advantage of having triplets is that they all are the same age. Imagine having children of two different age groups and then trying to make them sit together and study! And because my kids are doing the same course together, they help each other out. They make their own study group. They don't need anybody else. The bigger challenge is to make kids sit and study, no matter what age. It helps that they are the same age. The challenge would be if they were not of the same age, and they have to study together.

 

What device do your kids prefer using while learning to code? Is the laptop more comfortable or do they find the tablet easier to work on?

Farah: They prefer using the laptop. Though we do have tablets for coding, they prefer doing it on the laptop. And there's a lot more than you can do. They are my technical advisors. If I need a thing, say a zoom call to be set up, my children are the ones setting it up for me. In fact, they even started their own events company during the lockdown! They were organising zoom parties during the first wave and second wave. They were doing online parties. They were organizing for people with themes, and they were quite enterprising that way.

 

Technology is present in every aspect of our lives today. How do you strike a balance where your kids are concerned so that they get the benefits without being addicted to devices? How much technology are they allowed to use?

Farah: It is difficult to say that they can't use their devices because for whatever it's worth, everything is now being done on the device thanks to COVID. From their schooling to even their ballet class, physical PE class, everything is done on the laptop or the tablet or the phone.

The only time now when we don't use it is when we are travelling. That's when they're not supposed to use technology and just enjoy the experience. But sadly because of COVID, there is no other option than ever, except to use your devices for everything. Not only for them, for me also to order things online, to order even groceries, everything is done online.

Yes, but when we go out for dinner or when we are sitting together, they are not allowed to have their phones at that time. Family time, dinner time and travel time. That's when we want them to be device-free.

 

 

 

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