Should we help?

When art & craft ideas "poof" into the right hemisphere of my grey matter, wondrous masterpieces fit for museums and galleries reel around and around, and then, thankfully, settle into practical and achievable little projects that I can convey to the kids. With the seed planted in their minds, I see the same process unfolding. My point is that the idea in my head is not the picture in their heads, and when we begin to create I need to respect their individuality of expression. And that means: holding back on the help!

Once we’re ready, steady, go, we chat about why we have chosen the materials that we have . . . . and they're off! Whizzing around the house or garden finding “better stuff!" Urrgh, all my careful preparation down the drain. 

Yip, the picture they have is different from mine.

The creativity flows and the fun begins, and often I want to jump in, take over and make it “perfect” but . . . 

important to me, is that the process of kids’ art, as I posted yesterday, should be about them believing that they can create something that they will be proud of. It’s about self-confidence and expression.  When we offer too much help, it sends the signal that we don’t believe that they can do it, and if “mum doesn’t believe I can do it, then I probably can’t do it.” And so, as the parent, I have failed the process by trying to control the product. It should be about them exploring what they can master and knowing that it’s great simply because  it’s theirs and because they had fun creating it all by themselves.  

As I see it, my role is to make practical suggestions, lend a pair of fingers when asked and do the tricky bits that may involve stabbing holes through card or super-gluing fingers to paper!

Something my 5 year old said to me not so long ago summed it up very succinctly, “God must have had so much fun when he made everything and he must have been very proud when he was finished.”

And, as I’ve seen in their eyes, when a child draws something like this . . .

 . . . they actually see this!

When we take-over and “help” them to draw this . . .

. . . well, that’s exactly what they see . . . and the magic of creation has been lost.

Just do it . . . getting started!

The idea of sitting down to share art with your kids can be an intimidating one, for so many reasons (or excuses), like:

• I'm really not creative
• We don't have the "stuff" to create art
• I don't know where to start

In this post, I’m going to share my thoughts on just how creative one needs to be, or not to be.

I'm not an artist by any stretch of the imagination, but I do draw a stick figure better than my 7 yr old. So? In the eyes of a child, if you can do it better than they can and you know more than they do, then you're an expert (until they're teenagers of course). Ultimately, our role is to guide them through their creation, with lots of "ooh's", "aah's" and "wow's". 

The joy is in the sharing of the process, not necessarily the end product. I have, many times, "guided" kids through the process of their creation and arrived at a messy muddle of "what is that?" 

Guess what? We had fun anyway! What could be more exhilarating for a child-at-art, than seeing their "expert" looking really silly! The lessons we have learnt and conversations we have had over these "huh?" creations, have been as valuable (if not more so) than our masterpieces.

Through these opportunities, I have been able teach my children, from a very young age, how to behave when you don't achieve the outcome that you hoped for. I promise that when faced with one of our artistic "failures" I don't burst into tears, throw paintbrushes and stamp away in a huff. I try not to laugh hysterically, but I can't promise that I've never done that!

Instead? We try to figure out, looking at our creation with heads tilted at every possible angle, if there is something else that it resembles and could perhaps be. Talk about creative thinking and imagination! We also have wonderful conversations about what we did wrong, what part didn't work and what we could have done differently. It's amazing how animated the little "apprentices” become when they're suggesting improvements to their expert! Sometimes we decide to salvage what we can, and start over, attempting to recreate the original idea or make something else altogether.

And what about when we're not following a specific plan or don't have a specific end goal in mind? Well, that's when I watch their inner thoughts, dreams and interests come to life. The room becomes quieter as they slip into the depths of their creativity, and work on turning an idea into something tangible. My job is to mindlessly doodle, because obviously their creations need to be waaaay cooler than mine! Tip: never, under any circumstance, ask: "What is that?" Maybe try: "So what made you think of making that?" and see where it takes the conversation.

The over-riding theme of this post is simple: Kids art is not about "artistic produce". For me, it's always been about a process that offers an opportunity for creative thinking, problem solving and engaged conversation with my children. It’s also a gentle way of building self confidence and developing the skill of taking pride in their efforts.

All of course, disguised in a whole lot of fun!


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