Essay | Creative Skills and Kids

I had a traumatic experience at a young age – still, according to Jonathan Haidt, author of The Anxious Generation, the rest of my childhood was perfect for brain development: “You have to play a lot. You have to practice all sorts of things.” 

Growing up on an Upper Midwest farm, our parents did not supervise our play. Using our imaginations, my three siblings and I made up our own games. We climbed trees, swung on barn ropes, explored the grove, balanced on corral fences, dug snow tunnels, and we worked. 

Dad had us picking rocks in the spring fields and herding cattle on horseback. Mom had us gathering eggs, picking berries, shelling peas and washing dishes. We attended a one room school with first through eighth grades where we learned to interact with kids of all ages. 

Classmates pose for their school picture during author Renée Bergstrom’s 2nd grade year. (Submitted photo)

We attended church, Sunday school and vacation Bible school. I started sewing as a preteen and sewed my whole wardrobe as a teenager. We all played instruments in an award-winning high school band. 

Author Renée Bergstrom put her skills to work sewing her 1962 graduation outfit. (Submitted photo)

I became an expert at water-skiing and believe the practice of sewing, clarinet and skiing were more important to my well-being than anything I learned in school. My sewing even led to employment. As a young adult, I cuffed pants in a men’s store and sewed draperies for JC Penney’s.

Being creative has saved me from falling into a frump over big and little events throughout my lifetime. I have not always fully appreciated the joy and peace that attempting to make something beautiful brings. 

However, during the chaos of the current political scene, I realize that being creative takes full concentration so I cannot think about world affairs. This “being in the zone” has been scientifically proven to have mental health benefits. 

Today’s challenges

Most U.S. teens, according to a PEW survey conducted just before Covid, see anxiety and depression as a major problem among their peers; Covid, social media and other recent experiences have likely exasperated this. 

In 2024, former U.S. Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy said it’s time for a Surgeon General’s warning label on social media platforms: “The mental health crisis among young people is an emergency – and social media has emerged as an important contributor.”

When kids today spend so much time on their phones, they miss out on skill building. Author Jonathan Haidt states that paying attention is important and attention to one’s phone is not what children need. 

Creative success can build courage to try something new and each success builds self-esteem.

Art can be a healing outlet for expression of feelings and experiences as captured in this painting by the author. (Submitted photo)

After the devastating death of my brother while a college freshman, I fell into despair and quit school. When I enrolled in another university a year later, I took drawing, painting and pottery classes that helped me heal from grief.

After three difficult birthing experiences, I painted a woman flying out of orange and red flames and my spirit rose.

As a stay-at-home Mom, I learned to knit, spin and weave. The steady rhythm of these skills is very calming.

I helped start a fiber arts guild then and joined another one in my retirement years. The camaraderie of shared skills enhances well-being. 

From another era, Renée Bergstrom is seen sitting at her spinning wheel in this recent poster about a regional fiber arts guild. (Submitted photo)

In conjunction with the 50th Anniversary of the Zumbro River Fiber Arts Guild, the Mayo Clinic Sigma Xi lecture on April 15, 2025 was “Fiber Arts – Better Health at Our Fingertips.” One of the panelists was Dr. Julia Joseph-DiCaprio who authored A Stitch in Time Soothes Minds. 

There are physiological as well as psychological benefits to working with one’s hands. 

One panelist said her usually fluctuating blood pressure is normal while knitting. It might be wise to take away teens’ cell phones and give them knitting needles.

Keeping one’s hands busy helps with many creative projects – this collection of baby sweaters is just one example! (Submitted photos)

 My mother always had vegetable and flower gardens, and I also love digging in the dirt. Tending a garden is relaxing because there are only basic decisions: if it is a weed, pull it; if it is crowded, thin it; if it is branching out, prune it; if you don’t like where it is growing, move it. 

When flowers are in bloom, make bouquets; if they are faded, deadhead it. When fruit and vegetables are ripe, cook a meal or preserve them. Bake a loaf of bread to go with homemade soup. Line the cabinets with canned peaches. Pick wild black caps and bake a pie. 

 Are we teaching kids skills that require focus and bring joy to their lives and dispel depression and anxiety? If not, why not?

These skills can be learned young – and when they are, they’ll bring a lifetime of joy.

Weavings by Renée Bergstrom. (Submitted photo)