The importance of creativity in teenagers lives

[Applause]

i listen to death metal to help me

concentrate

it makes me happy it doesn’t make my mum

happy in fact she thinks it’s

intolerable but what would make her

more unhappy is if i was unhappy

parents what is more important to you an

unfortunate lack of death metal or your

child’s happiness

obviously the second one and what a

weird metaphor but not when you

relate it to school great

now that i’ve got your attention and

freaked you all out a little bit i’m

going to

explain to you how this relates to what

i’m talking about my name is millie page

i’m 18

and i’m the uae’s youngest produced

musician

i’ve been a guitarist for 10 years and a

vocalist for 14

and music is my life it gives me

something productive to do when i need

it

and it is my creative outlet so i’m here

to talk to you today parents students

and teachers

about the importance of allowing

adolescents to be creative and

expressive while juggling their

academics and how we can go about doing

that

from age four i knew that i was

different academically

i knew that i couldn’t do what the other

kids could do in terms of maths

writing and spelling but i did know that

i excelled at music and drawing and that

i was the one kid who sat inside in

lunchtime to listen to james blunt and

play house and i was perfectly fine to

do that

growing up i always saw myself as being

less valued than other students in

school because i couldn’t do my times

table

i was made fun of for it obviously but i

kept being creative and joining school

plays and singing at every opportunity

then finally at eight years old i was

diagnosed with multiple learning

disabilities

and i finally got my answer as to why i

was so academically different

i wasn’t stupid like i thought for so

long well a little bit

but now i knew where my creative side

had come from

however the older i got the more

frustrated i became

with not being able to doodle in lessons

while doing my work or drawing or

playing music

i was told it was a distraction and that

i’ll never get any work done if i’m

drawing

for me personally it helped me focus and

i know that 47

of students make it easier find it

easier

if they can take breaks while learning

to do things like drawing or listening

to music

i started to understand that my

confidence could bloom from being

expressive and creative

my parents saw my struggle and that

being just academic caused me to be

frustrated in school

and so then i was allowed to dress how i

wanted and do my makeup how i wanted

which included random colored eyebrows

and spike chokers

it helped me feel more expressive and

gave me a break from the pressure i felt

at school

i felt free being able to express myself

in any way that i wanted especially as a

musician

and with the support of my parents i

finally found a place i belonged

which wasn’t in a classroom or with a

particular group of students i fit in

with

but in my own body as a confident very

small young woman

i’ve found great amounts of confidence

as a musician and it’s given me some

amazing opportunities and now i’m on my

way to university to continue being

successful

unfortunately in secondary school with

all of this expression and creativity

came bullying

it knocked my confidence right back to

where it was before i found myself

and i spent hours in my bedroom like a

true emo kid

writing songs about how upset i was that

people didn’t understand

it took me years to get back to the safe

creative place i’d built for myself

before

and i realized the only way to keep

myself going was to stop caring about

what anybody else said

and not to keep pushing for social

acceptance or academic success

but to push myself to be whoever i

wanted to be because that’s where true

success comes from

i’ve noticed that a lot of children in

school feel that they can’t be their

true selves without the fear of

upsetting their parents

or being bullied by children who don’t

understand

and sometimes we’re told we can’t do

something creative that we love because

it won’t bring a success

and that’s ridiculous isn’t it take for

example

one of my friends he was told at gcse

level that he can’t do

art because he was too dyslexic to

possibly be able to keep up

with the deadlines the same thing

happened to him in ib

he was forced to do an academic subject

which didn’t make sense at all for a kid

with dyslexia

now he’s 20 and he’s in university doing

a very academic based subject

and he has to do art on the side he’s

doing really well

but had he been allowed to do art in

school and therefore in university

think of how much more happy he would be

and more motivated he’d be to get out of

bed and go to his lectures

he’s doing something on the side that

he’s doing because he loves and not

because

someone else thinks it’s best for him

doing art on the side

allows him an outlet to express his

emotions that come with school stress

and he brings the artistic creativity

he’s learned on the side

into his uni course in any way that it

allows him and ultimately he is much

happier doing art

but there is a fear that all children

have of disappointing their parents

holding on to this fear creates anxiety

in schools and in workplaces

and children and teenagers feeling like

they can’t be themselves

has caused problems i see in my peers

and it holds them back

it’s heartbreaking that my friends want

to dress creatively and want to write

music

and be artists but the fear of social

rejection is too much

being academic is important to some but

for all having a creative outlet is what

will carry children

into their adult lives and make them

more confident and fulfilled

so what’s the point in everything i’m

saying the reason i’m stood here in

front of you is to ask you to consider

if you haven’t already

that nothing we have would be here

without a creative mind

the chairs you’re sat on and the screen

behind me the light and sound technician

at the back wouldn’t be doing their job

if it wasn’t for some beautiful minds

if we think about it this way when

you’re going into an interview

what sets you apart from the other

people there for the same interview

i know what sets me apart because i

don’t think anyone else in there is a

literal circus clown but if they were

what would set me apart from them too

well

i’m a musician an artist and i’m a

really creative thinker

take a second to think about something

that would set you apart from them at

the interview

so i reckon about 70 of you there have

just thought of something that you might

think that no one else has done because

you’re thinking outside of the box

and that’s exactly the type of

creativity i’m on about

it doesn’t have to be something big but

allowing children to do something

creative and active

will make them not only more happy and

more well-rounded but will make their

lives much more enjoyable

to the parents in this room children and

adolescents are vulnerable

very important and very moldable you can

make your children

into anything you want them to be but

ultimately what they should be is

themselves

to the teenagers in this room you’re

only a teenager for 2556 days

so make the most of getting a head start

on being creative expressive and happy

do not let anybody tell you that you

can’t dress how you want draw what you

want

do the subjects at school that you want

or have the career one day that you want

and with that happiness let it carry you

into the rest of your life

even if you look up and if you end up

looking as weird as me

thank you

you