When we were kids, our parents’ focus was mostly on ensuring we were happy and maybe even entertained. Now, we’re obsessing over whether or not our children’s childhood is enriching enough.
We work tirelessly to make sure they participate in enough activities, have enough experiences, travel, read books, do crafts, play with the right toys, and the list goes on. While the expectation may technically belong to “parents,” mothers are often the ones carrying the invisible work required to make all of that magic happen.
But what if cultivating a creative childhood requires considerably less from us?
That’s one of the ideas at the heart of our conversation with artist and children’s book creator Oliver Jeffers, perhaps instantly recognizable to many families as the illustrator behind The Day the Crayons Quit. His newest book, A Day Off School, follows a child whose unexpected break from his normal routine opens the door to an entirely different kind of day—and to the imagination that can emerge when every minute isn’t already spoken for.
Jeffers’ own philosophy on childhood creativity is refreshingly uncomplicated: Children already possess imagination. Our job isn’t necessarily to manufacture it for them. Sometimes, he argues, we may actually need to get out of its way.
We spoke with Jeffers about why boredom deserves a better reputation, what happens when parents overschedule childhood, his family’s realistic approach to screens, how adults can unintentionally take over children’s creativity and the logistical work that has to be shared if mothers are ever going to experience family adventures instead of simply managing them.
He also opened up about the profound influence of his own mother, how fatherhood changed his ambitions and the ridiculously simple creative activity families can do with nothing more than a pencil and a piece of paper.
Kids Don’t Need Us to Manufacture Their Imagination
Parents are often expected to make childhood feel magical, educational and enriching all while managing the practical work happening behind the scenes. What would you say to the parent who worries they are not doing enough to cultivate her child’s imagination?
I’d remind them that everyone is in the same boat. No one is a perfect parent, and it takes a village to raise a child. Also, it’s not your responsibility to put the imagination in your kids head. It’s already there. You just have to allow space for it to flourish (and that can often mean getting them off a device).
A Day Off School begins when Herbie unexpectedly steps outside his usual routine. So often it’s the mom who is responsible for maintaining children’s routines and keeping family life moving. What can children gain when every part of their day is not planned, optimized or filled for them?
In my experience, a rigid schedule exhausts and depletes my kids. Yes we want them to fit in with our schedules, but too often adults have forgotten how cool it is to look at a bug on the ground for a few minutes as we are late for this or that. My parents had no issue letting me orbit for long periods of time in an unstructured schedule (pre-digital age) and it’s some of my best memories- getting lost in my own imagination, inventing games, going exploring. ‘Bored’ was banned as a word by my mum when I was growing up, and I repeat this to my kids. I once read that after 17 minutes the brain turns boredom into curiosity, so whenever my kids say they’re bored, I set a timer, tell them I’ll check back in 17 minutes, and invariably after that goes off, they are lost in some self-initiated task.
Creativity Doesn’t Have to Be Another Activity for Mom to Plan
Creativity for children is often marketed to moms as another project requiring special supplies, organized activities and extensive preparation. What are parents already doing in ordinary life that may be nurturing creativity without their realizing it?
Parents are already doing it when they let a child choose the route home, invent a name for a cloud or decide what the crooked carrot resembles. Curiosity is disguised in ordinary life! They are also encouraging it, when they simply listen to a kid’s wild stories, questions and ideas.
Family Adventures Aren’t Very Magical When One Parent Has to Manage Everything
Family travel can be creatively inspiring for children, but it can also mean that mothers are managing tickets, snacks, luggage, timing and everyone’s emotions. How can families make the journey itself meaningful without making Mom responsible for producing yet another memorable experience?
It should not be a mother’s burden alone to bear, but the journey stops being a shared experience if one person is the conductor of everyone else’s wonder. Split the bags, snacks and practical jobs and use Trainline to keep the route and tickets in one place when travelling by train in Europe. The Trainline Daily Draw Along with Yoto is great for providing an opportunity for kids to explore their creativity and the train is the ideal setting for this!
What responsibility do dads and partners have in creating the time and mental space for family curiosity? How can they carry more of the logistical work so mothers are able to experience the journey rather than merely manage it?
The responsibilities of travel should be shared by all parents / partners, not just mothers. That said, parenting is more like teamwork than both doing the same chorelist. Dividing and conquering. My wife books the tickets, I do the passports and charging and pairing of all devices, she packs some activity books, and I the art supplies and we both suggest games and stories. Curiosity needs attention, and attention is hard to find when one person is carrying every ticket, snack and contingency plan.
Kids Are Watching What Their Mothers Do for Themselves, Too
Motherhood can narrow a woman’s time for her own art, reading, travel and creative interests. What do children learn when they see their mother pursuing curiosity or creativity for herself—not only arranging creative experiences for them?
I think children very much do as they see, not as they’re told to do. So, children seeing their mother pursue her own interests sets an example for them to do the same.
How Oliver Jeffers’ Mother Shaped the Way He Sees the World
Did your own mother, grandmother or another maternal figure influence the way you observe, draw or tell stories? Is there something she modeled that you recognize in your work now?
My own mother was bed bound by MS which sadly took her life barely past 50. But in my formative years she was a powerful storyteller, and our house was littered with art she had made when she was able. It was my mother who encouraged me to travel, saying ‘you don’t understand a place until you see it from afar’, and the power of perspective shifts like this have become a basepoint of all my work.
Maybe “I’m Bored” Isn’t a Problem We Need to Fix
When a child says, “I’m bored,” many parents feel pressure to immediately solve the problem. What might happen if a parent resists filling that space? How can boredom become the beginning of imagination rather than evidence that the parent has failed to entertain everyone?
Boredom is often just imagination hidden. When my kids say they’re bored, I say ‘congratulations- I wish I was bored, as that’s when the best ideas happen.’ I give them 17 minutes then offer to happily give them a job to do if they’re still bored as there’s plenty of chores to be done. The Yoto Daily Draw Along with Trainline gives just enough of a nudge – a mountain train, a city, an underwater world – then gets out of the way so the child can make it their own.
His Family’s Realistic Approach to Screen Time
Mothers receive enormous judgment about children’s screen use, particularly during travel or other stressful stretches. What does a realistic relationship between screens and creativity look like—one that leaves room for imagination without treating screens as the enemy?
We let our kids use screens for an hour or so a day. Sometimes for educational games on apps, sometimes to watch their favorite show. We try to keep screens mainly for airplanes, as they can be tricky enough when there are no windows to look out. That’s why I love the Yoto Daily Draw Along with Trainline. Just pop the headphones in, listen, and get drawing. It’s great for inspiring creativity and having kids look at something a bit differently.
The Question to Ask Instead of “What Is It?”
Are there ways well-meaning parents accidentally take control of a child’s creativity—by correcting a drawing, asking what it is too quickly or focusing on whether the finished product is “good”? What can they do instead?
I try to ask questions that make the world larger instead – ‘Where is it going?’ or ‘What happened just before this?’ – and accept that the child knows the creature or scene they are creating better than I do.
How Fatherhood Changed His Own Ambition
In your own family, has fatherhood changed your understanding of the often invisible work required to create space for children to play, travel, notice and imagine?
I have noticed that my schedule has shifted massively. As have the targets of my own ambition. While in the early years of their childhood, I’ll admit there was an air of frustration with the sudden lack of control I had. But now, a decade in, I’m the better for it with my mental health, my grounding and for the blossoming relationship I have with my kids.
A 10-Minute Creativity Trick That Requires Almost Nothing
For a mother who has ten minutes, no special materials and absolutely no desire to oversee a complicated craft, what is one tiny creative ritual she could try with her child this week?
This is why I love the Yoto Draw-Alongs with Trainline, they can help guide children through their drawing whilst also giving them a level of freedom to see where their creativity takes them. Alternatively, draw one shape, hand over the pencil and ask your child to turn it into a monster; then make them give you a shape to turn into a hero. It needs one sheet of paper, takes less than ten minutes and works just as well at the kitchen table as it does on a train table.
The Three Oliver Jeffers Books He’d Put on a Family Bookshelf
Finally, which three Oliver Jeffers books would you recommend to families hoping to encourage curiosity, imagination and a different way of seeing the world—and why would you choose those three?
A Child of Books, made by me and Sam Winston, where words from classic children’s literature become the landscape for a young reluctant reader and the ‘child of books’ who shows him the potential of his own imagination.
Meanwhile Back on Earth, which shows a family car trip through space, illustrating the distance between our planets, and as we look back on our home planet further and further in the rear view, some perspective on the battles we’ve always fought.
A Day Off School, by myself and Kevin Waldren, again about the bottomless well of imagination in childhood minds, as a young boy’s bonus day off school becomes FOMO as he conjures up the best day at school ever.
The Takeaway
There is an appealingly low-effort idea running through nearly everything Jeffers says: Raising creative children does not necessarily mean giving them more activities, toys, planned experiences, entertainment or opportunities for Mom to quietly turn herself into the cruise director of childhood. It might mean giving children something increasingly rare instead: a little time in which nothing has been arranged for them.
Let them stare out the train window, let them decide what the cloud looks like, let them draw something without being asked what it’s supposed to be and let them complain that they’re bored without immediately producing the solution. Perhaps most importantly, let them see the adults in their lives curious about the world for themselves.
Childhood doesn’t become magical only when a parent makes it so—sometimes the most interesting things happen in the space we leave empty.
Editor’s note: Oliver Jeffers is currently working with Trainline and Yoto. The Mother Chapter was not paid for this interview.
