Stop Trying to Make Your Kids Creative
Stop Trying to Make Your Kids Creative  
Podcast: Good Inside with Dr. Becky
Published On: Tue Jun 16 2026
Description: Parents are being sold creativity like it's a subscription box. Workshops, kits, frameworks, scripts: the message being that your kid needs more imagination and it's your job to install it. Austin Kleon, author of Steal Like an Artist and Don't Call It Art, has a different take: your kid already has it. The imagination, the playfulness, the willingness to not-know — it's all there. The question isn't how to give it to them. It's how to stop blocking it. And maybe, while we're here, how to get a little of it back ourselves. Dr. Becky and Austin talk about what creativity actually needs to thrive (not a workshop), what so-called "problem kids" and great artists have in common, why your kid's obsession with garage doors is not a problem, the link between play and depression, the game that got Austin through the pandemic, and the teeth-brushing song Becky invented entirely by accident. Read Dr. Becky’s ideas for how to be a playful parent when you don’t feel like playing. * From the newborn days to the teen years, Good Inside now supports parents through every stage of childhood — with practical guidance for the moments that matter most.  Thank you to our partners for making this episode possible: Play-Doh: Shop Play-Doh at Walmart for a summer of imaginative play Skylight: Get $30 off a 15-inch Skylight Calendar at myskylight.com/becky LMNT: Get a free gift with your purchase at drinkLMNT.com/goodinside Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.