The Preconditoning Factors to a Child’s Creative Mind in a Family Set-Up

Abstract

This paper examines the impact that the personal and socio-economic issues of families have on boy and girl child in their development of talents in creative activities such as painting and drawing. The study targeted 120 pupils aged 9 to 14 years, of class 4 to 7, in 12 primary schools, 60 parents of the selected children and 24 teachers of arts and craft in the selected schools in Eldoret Municipality. The schools selected were categorised into classes: A (high cost), B (middle class), and C (lower class). The data was collected by the use of questionnaires and analysed by the use of frequencies, percentages and Kruskaal-Wallis. The findings showed there are a lot of "hidden" potential talents in the area of arts and craft among the children. The, however, revealed that some cultural factors inhibit the development of creative talents in painting and drawing especially among girls. Finally the study also showed that socio-economic status has no strong influence on the creative talents of a child. The study recommended that the government should have strong policy on parenting where by curriculum should be set for teaching parenting as a subject on its own. The study contributes resourceful knowledge on the role the family plays in influencing the creative abilities of children in art, specifically painting and drawing