What do kids know about comping? It’s easy to think they couldn’t be any help whatsoever. They seem to exist on their own planet most of the time and when they can’t even do their shoelaces, how can they possibly help you with your grown-up, adult comping?
With most online competitions targeted towards the over 18’s and the competitions for children are targeted towards children, it makes sense to conclude that children cannot make a difference to adult comping.
However, how many of us adults helped children with children’s competitions? All of us, in someway, help our children. I’m not just referring to filling out an entry form or giving parental consent – but the other ways, providing research skills, showing them a few drawing methods, supporting and encouraging them – our contributions cannot be understated, just like theirs.
To parents, this is probably somewhat obvious – but to people that don’t have children in their lives on a daily basis – this might provide a little insight:
What Can Kids Help Us With?
Toddlers – If you are a little stuck but want to enter creative competitions, then hanging out with a toddler can work wonders. Toddlers have an odd, innocent view of the world and answering questions like ‘Do fairies fly to space?’ forces us to tap into parts of our brains that are usually unused. The mere act of thinking differently and challenging assumptions makes our brain more creative.
Tweens – The great thing about pre-teens or ‘tweens’ is that they are honest. Brutally so! If a promoter asks for an imaginative comment, asking this group for their input can be eye opening. If it’s funny, they will laugh. If it’s ‘lame’, they will say so – or worse they’ll do that: ‘seriously?’ face. The point is, that some competitions want to see an imaginative comment, or a fun comment – and it’s easy for your brain to freeze up when you are in the middle of entering competitions and the opinion of a pre-tween can be helpful sometimes.
Teenagers – Teenagers are Internet royalty. Therefore, if you are trying to enter a comment in a Facebook competition and your promoter markets to teenagers – the simplest thing to do is either leave a ‘old person’ comment at the risk of being cringe-worthy, or you could simply ask! Unlike Tweens, most teenagers are sympathetic and diplomatic, and will point out your mistake. They also know everything about social media and apps and computers so, out of all the generations, they are the ones that are most likely to be able to help you.
Without suggesting you run off to make a baby farm for your comping requirements (lol) – It might be worth asking some nieces and nephews for their opinions. Has your comping been improved by the younger generations? Let us know in the comments below!