Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Stunt Not the Creative Child

Curly loves to color. She may color different than I would do it, but she enjoys her crayons.

Can you guess my issue with the images below? Do you see where I might naturally try to "guide" her creativity and play?

She is actually drawing quite nice lines if you ask me, but I might desire to tell her how a maze really works and how she should do it.

According to me that is.

And really, perhaps the picture I captured was not the best picture to illustrate my point, but it's the one I got. I suppose that a maze does have rules and a set way to accomplish the goal. But let's point out that in the above picture, even though you can't see it, she isn't coloring in the lines. She is not quite three. She doesn't need to color in the lines.

BUT...even if she was twelve, should I really tell her to stay in the lines? Isn't coloring about creativity? Shouldn't I let her discover what she thinks looks good? Shouldn't I let her guide herself in her creative endeavors?

Like her choice of hat whilst she colors. Now that is a creative genius if you ask me. (I might be smirking wildly right now...who knows.) Who would think to sport the helmet during a coloring session? Those Roseart crayons aren't like the Crayola ones. They get feisty man! They might attack!


That's right. My girl. That's MY girl there and she likes to rock her helmet when she colors. She is prepared for the moments you never hear about and are caught off guard by. She is ready for "Roseart GONE WILD."

That's a preschool parallel they do on Sesame Street to mimic Girls Gone Wild. You seriously should be watching what they are showing our kids these days. Sure it starts with American Idol guest appearances, but then what?! They are trying too hard to relate to the parents if you ask me.

Okay. So I was joking. Did I take that too far? You are all probably bored right now, but that's okay. I know that I had a little fun for a second, so you just had to deal with me.

Do you hear crickets chirping? Where is that coming from...? Hellooooo? Anybody out there? I guess I will just keep babbling to myself then...

As I was saying before, who am I to tell her what her art should look like?

Because...hey, when I was little someone might have told me not to mix black and white with color.

Don't worry about me, I don't listen. Why should we expect our kids to?

7 comments:

Brie said...

Just wondering... Why is your child wearing a helmet while coloring?? It's not THAT dangerous of an activity. Or have I been doing it all wrong all these years??

Laurel said...

Cute post!

Major joy of homeschooling ... letting our kids educate themselves with Creativity. Who says we can't do our school work in our pajamas ... or wearing our bike helmets ... or under the table ... or with music playing ... or at midnight ...

Our family is so "out of the box", that I can't imagine any of us trying to fit in the regular "box", called "school".

Keep coloring, Curly ... and keep wearing the cute helmet. It's good to teach your mommy to think "outside the box".

Laurel :)

Katherine Laine said...

The only thing I would have to say is that knowing the rules is the only way we can choose to break them. I think that is a pivotal philosophy when it comes to creativity. If no one told me what I was supposed to do when making a video or taking a picture, then how could I say I was breaking the mold by doing my own thing?

I'll stop writing now - before I babble.

Brie said...

Oh, wait for my post later tonight and see my sons hat choice for the day!

Brie said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Vicky said...

First of all, I want to hear no more complaints about the strange google-searches that bring people to your blog, when you write about Roseart Gone Wild and other such things.

Second... given her rule-following nature, it's probably best we not tell her that you're supposed to color in the lines. I recall hating coloring because I couldn't stay in the lines "right". :)

Best Fantasy and Science Fiction said...

We do some dangerous things at our house and coloring is one of them! Danger makes it so much more exciting. Don't go INSIDE that line...you don't want to know what will happen! :)

It is probably best we dont share that little rule yet though. For awhile she wouldn't even cross off the days on her calendar because she couldn't make the perfect line! I hate to take away coloring from her too!