Profiles in Creativity Here are some parents who have combined parenting and creativity in unique ways: Michael Apted, director or the new James Bond movie "The World is Not Enough," also just released "42 Up," the latest in his series of films which follow the development of a dozen or so British children at seven year intervals. The children, first interviewed at age seven, are now middle aged. In an interview on National Public Radio, Apted said that following the lives of his subjects affected his own behavior as a parent. Some of the children he interviewed bore the negative effects of negligence, and one in particular suffered greatly as a result of being pushed too hard. Taking the long view, Apted learned what to do and what not to do with his own children. Interesting to hear how this film-maker ended up influenced in his approach to parenting. He's not the only one, obviously. Countless teachers, camp counselors, social workers, nurses, doctors, salespeople, relatives and others have learned from the parents and kids they have observed. The film, which started as a BBC documentary, was originally created with the premise "Give me a child before he is 7 and I will show you the man." For a review of the film itself, click to 42 Up in creativeparents.com Reviews. Others who have been influenced by their kids are Beverly Cleary, A.A. Milne, and Ludwig Bemelmans. Cleary who wrote the beloved Ramona Quimby and Henry Huggins series drew inspiration from her own children. Now in her 80's, Cleary grew up in Oregon where the stories are set. Alan Alexander Milne created Winnie-the-Pooh stories to amuse his son Christopher Robin and based them on his son's stuffed animals. No stranger to comic writing, Milne was an assistant editor at Punch and was the author of detective novels and comic plays for adults. Artist Ludwig Bemelmans wrote and illustrated "Madeline" for his daughter. While his stories are set in Paris, Bemelsman was actually born in a part of Austria that is now Italy and moved to the United States at the age of 16. We'll keep adding to the list of creative parents. Send us your favorites. Back to Top

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