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What if We Threw Away Those Coloring Books?Growing Authors and Illustrators Part 2 There are few things my mother did right. In fact, those who knew her would say there were a lot of things she did right. But the one thing that she REALLY did right is to not let me color in coloring books! Im so grateful that she knew better than to let me fritter away my time on coloring inside the lines. Because of her foresight, I spent hour upon hour drawing as a child. Now you may be saying to yourself, Oh my goodness, I never thought of that! Well, don't feel too bad because I didn't think of that either until I started encouraging my children to draw from life. Drawing from life is like writing from what you know - it's real! When I saw how much time my children were spending with their noses in coloring books, I became jealous. It felt to me like they were being robbed. Why should they waste their time filling in someone else's lines when they could be making lines of their own? Can you imagine Beatrix Potter coloring in a coloring book? Or how about Norman Rockwell? During family read-a-loud time Rockwell would draw characters out of Dickens as he imagined they might look. What if he had spent his childhood coloring instead of creating? He may never have found his niche - drawing the human figure. Some times we do things without thinking about the consequences. I received an e-mail from a mother who had a problem with the fact that I said everyone can learn to draw from life. She said her two older boys hated coloring books (as if that act was related to drawing somehow), but it looked as if her three year-old might actually like them. I feel sorry for her three-year old. We encourage our kids to draw in coloring books because we know that they occupy them, but I think we need to think this one through. Unless your child is going to paint houses for a living you may just want to let those coloring books gradually... just sort of disappear. Sit and doodle with your kids. Start drawing things around the house or someone you love, and before you know it your kids will begin to spontaneously pick up a pen or pencil and draw just for the fun of it...and that will be one more thing that you're doing right!
All Material Copyright © 2005 Jill Novak 1:15 PM - Jul. 11, 2005 - post comment
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 Jill Novak shares from her heart and the pages of her journal about God's faithfulness through life's everyday teachable moments.Jill encourages families to write and draw from life. She and her husband Robert have been married 28 years and are the parents of five children. Together her family has founded Remembrance Press, publishers of The Pebbly Brook Farm Series: Character Building Stories for Boys and Girls, Becoming Gods Naturalist, The Gift of Family Writing, and The Girlhood Home Companion. Home View my profile Archives Email Me   Categories Nature Journal Making Snowflakes On Gossamer Thread Drawing Hollyhocks Basic Supply List for Nature Journaling My Nature Journal - Swamp Milk Weed Becoming God's Naturalist - Make a Nature Specimen Library SketchBook Summer School - Write and Draw from life! Basic Supply list for nature journaling From My Nature Journal Blogging Dueling Bloggers Are you a words of Encouragement blogger? are you a physical touch blogger? Are you a Quality time blogger? Are you a gift giving blogger? Uninspired Know you audience Spiritual diary He Touched me! Art Road trip to Tasha's - part Three Road trip to Tasha's - part two Road trip to Tasha's - part one Drawing From life - Figure Drawing and the Homeschooler What if we threw away those coloring books? Growing Future Authors and Illustrators Growing Authors and Illustrators - Part 1 Journaling With childeren Writng with little childeren - shared journal entries, shared fun! Help childeren of all ages journal there life stories Family Two Letters The Gift of Words Putting your pen to paper Homeschooling Mommy take good care of your self, you belong to me significance Journaling For such a time as this Upon the white log-in with the lord Truth is Stranger then fiction Links The Gift of Family Writing The Girlhood Home Companion  The Pebbly Brook Farm Journal  Recent Entries - A Delightful and Profitable Way to Pass a Dreary Winters Day - A New Tradition - Over the River and Through the Wood to Sarah's - The Challenges and Disadvantages of Homeschooling - Gods Creation and The Tools of the Trade - Milkweed Monday - Drawing Hollyhocks - This Pile of Stuff on the Floor - Annas Amazing Discovery or How to Draw a Toad - Nature Journaling Interview - HSB's Promo Friends TOSPUBLISHER Tami tn3jcarter ByHisGraceInColorado parkwaymom EmptyNestMom spunkyjunior Academy252 BlogBoy WritingTips leebenvic Cornflower Mariel mom26kidz creativehsmom SBadgley DreweLlyn MaggieHogan DandelionSeeds Lilacs grownathome TEACHmagazine homeschoolhelp gracefuljourney Stacy EclecticBibliophile LittleEblingsAcademy KerriHopkins TammyC Bioluminescence elljazz joymommy Boltbabe cynthiarobin COMamabear mrskbrook gottsegnet Galatians69 Cre8iveMom MyChildrenAndMe Melkhi Juliestew Joyfulhrt iluvtheland Dell mctenpenny mistresninos Redeemed JoelKing BarbaraS dolphindancer quietcajun BooksandBairns dumspirospero mycrazylife ElCloud akabain JewelSea JeanaG Rebeca REInvestor deedeeuk Hagertroops7 Beverly Margaret MyLittleWomen Louscrew MorningLight rjdjohn316 Jocelyndixon SuperAngel JacqueDixonSoulRestES annointed kurjian4school theheartofthehome ExperimentalKid kcomom 4evrHischild homesweethomeschooler lolly01 InkTraveler PennyRaine tiredmom belovedbooks 4kiddos4me SongOfTheSagebrush YoungManInTraining SincerelyAmanda momma9x PricelessPurity mariah debbiecorley nancysnook moreofhim ChristineRead stampalot lahbluebonnet srostollan BreezyTulip RaspberryPixieMuffin |
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