Thursday, July 11, 2013

Kid confidence builder: our drawing work

Drawing has long been considered a favorite kid activity. Well, most kids.
Not mine.

Brady has never liked coloring or drawing. Ever. Not one bit. In fact, if he is not forced to for some reason, he will not do it.

That'd actually be okay with me for the most part because his talents lie with math, science and spelling, more concrete things.

But there are a couple of reasons I wanted to build his confidence in this area.:

  • Drawing does come up in school. That's inescapable. And when it does, Brady gets nervous about it. I think because it is SO abstract and there are no real rules, and it is wide open, he just gets anxious when he has to do it. 
  • Also, when he talks about drawing, he says his drawings are "terrible" and everybody else's are good. Sigh. 
So, I told him this summer we were going to work on drawing. He could sit side by side with me and we'd both draw.

I had no idea what to expect but it has actually worked out really well. To the left is the result of our second "drawing session."

The first we drew a few simple things and I talked to him about the power of using different colors and taking our time. I also explained that there is no right or wrong in drawing. It's however the individual sees things.

On Try #2 I said, "Well, let's draw a picture like in A Bug, A Bear and A Boy Paint a Picture." This gave him some idea to go by and referenced a book he likes to read.

The picture in the book is of green grass, blue sky, a tree with a yellow bird. So my drawing is on the right. To show him we could add our own touch, I put gray clouds and rain in the sky.

He ran with that, made a stormy sky and an F5 tornado (complete with a swirling debris cloud at the bottom) a tree stripped of leaves to the bare branches and a guy in his basement. Can you tell we live in Tornado Alley in Kansas? He told me my picture was the guy earlier in the day. Ha!

I was actually very impressed that he made his own scenario. See, kid, that's what you can do!

The next try he said, "Let's do the opposite. You draw the storm and I'll draw the nice day." So we did. He used different colors all on his own and drew with much more confidence. Here's his work:

I love his fluffy clouds, the full green tree and that's him inside playing on the computer.

He said, "Wow, I really am good at this." And that's the moment we moms all wait for.

We'll keep going with it and build that confidence even more. Oh, and my picture had a lightning bolt catching an apple tree on fire. He loved that!

I think it's natural for kids to want to avoid things they don't like or don't feel comfortable doing. And it's natural for parents to want to shield them from that. I had never pushed the issue of drawing with Brady before now.

But if there's an area your kiddo struggles, maybe just sitting down and doing it with them and talking through it can help. It may never be their favorite thing, but they can get through it and discover their own potential.


16 comments:

  1. I always tell my kids, how would you know if you liked something if you don't try it. Oh the joy when they realize that they do. I so sometimes want to say "I told you so" but I have to control myself. You did an amazing job with him. :)

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    1. Yes, to see them make that realization is truly joyful :)

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  2. That's awesome. I work with kids all the time that struggle with learned helplessness. They've failed so many times, why try to succeed. They are always blown away when I sit down to read, draw, or play games with them. Me doing it too makes them less afraid to try.

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    1. Aw, how sad the kids that have learned helplessness. That one on one time is absolutely crucial for a kid. I have been so blessed to have so much time with mine.

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  3. I always tell my children to give something their best try. I don't expect them to be perfect, but I do expect them to try. Have fun!

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    1. Good advice. Perfect doesn't really exist, so if you aim for that, you'll be disappointed! But if you do the best you can, you have achieved and accomplished something. I try to tell him that math doesn't come near as easy to other people as it does to him, just like drawing for him takes more work. Maybe someday he'll understand.

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  4. My oldest would never draw until he went to school and now it's his favorite thing. But I can't get my youngest to much more than scribble for a few minutes. I'll have to keep working on it with him.

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    1. Mom working with him will make a huge difference :)

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  5. I love that you are working through it with him. Drawing is something my kids enjoy but they certainly get discouraged when their pictures don't come out perfect. I always tell them anything they want to be good at takes a lot of practice.

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    1. It's hard to teach patience and practice, at least for my guy. I just want him to know we can work through anything and to just give it time.

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  6. Aw, I feel for him that he thinks he's not good at it! Someone, somewhere must have made just one little comment at school that got to him. Good for you for helping him with it.

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    1. I wonder if someone did say something. He never mentioned it, but all it takes is one little off-hand comment and confidence is shot :(

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  7. We struggle with confidence too. Jasmyn is really good at art work and she really enjoys it. It is one of the activities we placed in her "calm down" box because she is able to release her anger and anxiety and frustration into something creative. Brady did a WONDERFUL job!!!

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    1. Thanks, Mary :) I was so proud of him for overcoming his frustration and reluctance. That's so great it is a soothing activity for her!

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  8. There are so many fun and creative ideas here! What a great collection!Thank you for sharing.

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    1. Thank you, Ashley, for stopping by and commenting! This certainly helped us out!

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