Having a child is pretty amazing… whats also amazing is watching them grown up. First its just in size, then its in sounds, now its in written form for my child. He loves arts and crafts (who does) but recently he found that a green crayon would look amazing on the walls.
Of course writing on the walls isnt something that most would be proud of… and trust me when I say it wasnt an easy task to tell him that its wrong to draw on walls would be an understatement.
But its the sign of things to come – if you look at it you could almost imagine the scribbles saying LOVE (at least thats what I’m saying it is) but its the sign that its time to teach some rules like where the point of the crayon belongs, its the start of his writing abilities, and making sure while we teach him where that creativity can go.
Part of the mission is the foster and encourage my child’s creativity while not putting in place so many rules that he can be creative around it. Most of what we have today is build on one’s creative solution to one’s problem… and if we discipline in a way that hampers creativity then we may not solve the next problems.
Uh oh. Good for you, encouraging their creativity. It’s nice when you have the opportunity to steer them correctly before it’s too late instead of focusing on the negatives 🙂
So … in keeping with the positive, when my daughter started this, I created certain spaces where she could color on the walls safely. She was between 2-3, so I went to the local office supplies store (also have it at the arts and crafts store) and got one of those huge rolls of butcher paper to hang over a door. And an art easel. Those were the approved places to color, draw, scribble, etc.
She’s 9 now and still loves to draw, goes through sketchbooks on a regular basis.
OK, can’t keep my mouth shut … 2 cents on discipline, this is also a good time to show that there are consequences to our actions. My nieces and daughter are very good at scrubbing walls. I went through the same thing. After my grandmother made me scrub walls I never drew on them again.
Encouraging their creativity is one of the best part of being a parent. I have a meme that runs every Tuesday called Budding Artist Tuesday if you would like to link up…
http://reesspace.blogspot.com/2011/08/budding-artist-tuesday-august-2-2011.html
My son took it a tad further, perhaps too far… by writing on the cat.
Oy vey.
My kids draw on themselves! So, now we’ve promised to do some face painting every now and again to take the place of them just scribbling on their arms. My wife is good with a paint brush.
My son has really gotten into coloring in the last few weeks. We bought those Crayola Washable crayons and fortunately haven’t had to test out their claim yet. He still makes us do most of the drawing so far anyway. Needless to say, I’ve become quite adept at sketching blue horses.
Seriously though, kudos on letting your little one express his creativity. It’s an important trait that is too often overlooked.
JJ – The Dude
DudeoftheHouse.blogspot.com