A recent conversation with my five year old;
“Mummy, I am an artist.”
“What makes you say that?”
“Because I have all of the good ideas.”
This as she was spontaneously fingerpainting the bricks underneath our patio with watercolours.
I often wonder when it is exactly that we lose that confidence as artists that children so often hold. That seemingly inherent self-confidence to freely create and explore, to manipulate and construct, to delve and to know more.
Maybe just a little of it is knocked away the first time a peer laughs at their purple, spotted leopard, their imperfectly formed love heart or their non-cotton-bud-topped tree.
Or as a loved one responds, “What is it?”
Still more is likely stifled by the limitations well-meaning adults place on the time dedicated to creative pursuits, as we prematurely fill their days with academics and extra curricular activities. Not recognising the value of integrating art into the very learning we encourage.
Whenever it is we do our children a disservice by limiting their opportunities for creativity.
Regular time and space for creativity, for art, provides all children with the opportunity to develop and express original thinking, to ask questions and find answers and solutions. Art provides children with space and reason to communicate symbolically, to organise ideas, to share.
All of these are important skills for future job success in the 21st Century. And how we respond to and support a child’s artistic attempts right now will influence her creative confidence not only in the present but also far into the future.
“To support a child’s developing artistic confidence, be encouraging even when it is difficult…. Children need to feel that their ideas will be accepted and respected; (to learn that) mastery comes through repeated attempts. The masters of drawing and painting did not paint an image only once, they revisited an image over and over again, representing it each time in different forms, from different angles, with different materials. Children need this same opportunity to try many different ways of creating and representing an idea without feeling pressured to produce in the one “right” way.” – Time to Create: Hands On Explorations in Process Art for Young Children
“Mummy, I am an artist.”
It’s a self-belief I hope to hear her express for many, many years to come.
Christie Burnett is a teacher, presenter, writer and the mother of two. She created Childhood 101 as a place for teachers and parents to access engaging, high quality learning ideas.
What you say about kids needing these skills for the future is so true. Daniel Pink in his book A Whole New Mind talks about how left brain activities are out and creativity in the work force is the name of the game so we better start concentrating on creativity from a very young age
Will you be able to purchase a kindle version of your book in the near future?
I’m sure as parents, we are guilty of limiting a child’s creativity or spontaneity at one point or another, and I do agree it’s something that we need to constantly remind ourselves not to do! So thanks for the reminder!
All so true.
For me as a middle child, I think I compared myself from an early age to my older sister (two years my senior) who was – and is – particularly gifted in the visual arts. I gave up on my own skills early on, as a result.
Now I am watching my middle child and hoping the same thing won’t happen to her. On the upside, her big brother is not particularly gifted at drawing, although he is a lot better than her, being 4 years older. But you mentioning the mocking that can come from peers – what about older siblings? Sometimes even well meant “instruction” (as with parents) can be detrimental. I just have to hope we are giving her the skills to be resilient to it all!
I still remember the sting of an adult comment at a small, local showing of children’s art work. I was so proud of my little creation, but then I overheard a woman tell the child with her that “anyone could paint that.” It was nearly 50 years ago and I still remember like it was yesterday.
My Mum told me never to ask a child “what is it?” when admiring their artwork…but instead to ask them to tell you about it…. I do this with my own son (6)..and he tells the most wonderful, detailed stories about his drawings/paintings (including what happened before..and after the scene he actually drew)…so not only are you not hurting the childs feelings..you actually get an amazing response (not just *hurt look*..”its a DOG..see his tail?!”). I am also just now starting to face problems with my son getting frustrated when his drawings dont ‘look like’ whatever they are supposed to be…. so after a bit of praise.. as well as explaining that practice makes everything easier, and making ‘mistakes’ teaches you how you DONT want to draw it in the future (or sometimes even how you DO..)…we have also been spending time on the internet comparing different paintings & photos to see how different people see & express things differently…this has been great, we have had a little giggle about how different some things can look in paintings compared to reality..and then found WHY we liked the painting anyway (its more fun, beautiful colours, nice shape etc). Like all mothers…I think my child’s artwork is fantastic, and making/drawing/painting is our favourite thing to do together…Watching him create something beautiful, and hearing his enthusiastic story about that creation is the best thing in the world, I hope he can keep that confidence & creativity for his whole life!