Abstract:
This paper examines the impact that the personal and socio-economic issues of families have on boy and girl
child in their development of talents in creative activities such as painting and drawing. The study targeted 120
pupils aged 9 to 14 years, of class 4 to 7, in 12 primary schools, 60 parents of the selected children and 24
teachers of arts and craft in the selected schools in Eldoret Municipality. The schools selected were categorised
into classes: A (high cost), B (middle class), and C (lower class). The data was collected by the use of
questionnaires and analysed by the use of frequencies, percentages and Kruskaal-Wallis. The findings showed
there are a lot of "hidden" potential talents in the area of arts and craft among the children. The, however,
revealed that some cultural factors inhibit the development of creative talents in painting and drawing especially
among girls. Finally the study also showed that socio-economic status has no strong influence on the creative
talents of a child. The study recommended that the government should have strong policy on parenting where
by curriculum should be set for teaching parenting as a subject on its own. The study contributes resourceful
knowledge on the role the family plays in influencing the creative abilities of children in art, specifically
painting and drawing
