Their Artistic Bents

I've been considering this recent post of mine and observing my children. It seems that all of my children, when they reach the age of about 2 1/2, begin to show definite artistic bents.

G is a born story teller. Every day he is thinking up new tall tales, and he will gladly entertain anyone who will listen. He even has a series of stories that he has begun about something called "The Egees". He tells stories about dinosaurs, dragons, zoos, ancient civilizations. . . His imagination goes wild, and he just wants to share his thoughts with someone.

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Teeny, I have mentioned before, is my little artist. She has a way of being neatly detailed in her drawings that just astonishes me. And she wants to learn to draw more things, often picking up a pen and a piece of paper to copy something out of a book. Her pictures are, for her age, amazing to me. So amazing that I am putting one of them on a bag for myself.

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Bud-Jack, I have discovered, has quite the dramatic flare. He definitely has a future in community theater if we can instill a little more boldness in him. His latest act is to lay down, eyes open and ascance, body limp, and say in a deep voice, "Mommy, me dead. Look, me dead." And he is forever repeating lines from movies, just as they are said in the movies (minus the correct pronunciation).

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So, what is a mother to do with all this creativity and artistry going on about her? How can I best put my energy into ensuring that my children will carry these artistic bents with them into adulthood? I think a good journal and a multitude of notebooks, paper and pens will do G a world of good. As he gets older I can submit his stories to contests and child-friendly publications and then teach him how to choose and submit stories on his own as he gets older. Teeny, I have known for a long time, needs a good stash of art supplies, especially sketch pads and colored pencils. I also intend to eventually look into art classes for her; and, hey, she could illustrate G's stories. And Bud-Jack needs praise, props and prompts in his acting now. He needs to gain boldness in crowds and then to be put in community theater (thank heavens J was once into this acting thing) to use his dramatic skills.

Wow, how exciting all this looks in print! I wonder what little M&M's artistic bent will be?

Take some time in the next few days to observe your kids and figure out what their creative bents are. Then make a list of definite steps you can take to encourage their creativity and commit to seeing these steps through. And don't forget that the most important and neccessary thing you can do for your creative little ones is to listen, look, watch. . . and then respond. . . positively.