"You know why I love coloring on the sidewalk, Mommy?"She put down the chalk and looked up.
"Why?" I said.
"Because nobody tells me to color inside the lines. The only lines I have to color inside of are the ones on the sidewalk."
"That's true."
"Wait a minute," she said. "I don't even have to do that! I can color the pieces of grass, too!"
"I think that's an excellent idea."
She sighed before picking up the chalk again.
"You know," she said. "I wish school was more like this sidewalk."
(Me too.)
19 comments:
I wish life were more like that sidewalk -or "pavement" in English English ;-) A wonderful post!
(sigh) if more things were like the imaginative whimsy of a child's drawings.....
You have a brilliant child. And you are a brilliant parent!
Wow!
I'm so glad that she has a sidewalk with no lines. Think of how life would be if every facet meant, "coloring inside the lines." Progress would have been halted a long time ago.
What a remarkable child. I love this.
I was terrible at coloring as a child. I didn't stay within the lines. I grew up to be an artist. My neighbor,Sally, colored perfectly inside the lines. She grew up to be a judge. Hmmmm...
The fact that children are told to color within the lines or even that they are given lines to color in is indicative of everything that is wrong with our education system. Brava, little one. You shall do great things with your expansive, thoughtful disposition.
Raine would certainly not like the new word verification system! They tell us that it's to prove we're not robots, but then ask us to be just that.
"Think different." -Steve Jobs, inventor of the iphone
You know, you're a very good writer, Laurie.
Thank you, thank you, thank you my fellow outside-the-box friends.
:-)
Me three.
Typical South Pas test score crazy schools. Tell that smart kid to make sure to keep coloring well outside the lines.
Nice Jobs quote to the previous commenter.
I've been outside the box so I missed this post. Your girls a muralist in the making. Fantastic - and she has a wonderful attention span. That kind of concentration isn't common at that age is it?
so she's creating a street scene on the street. Yes, I enlarged this - it's a keeper
PA, yes. She has an amazing attention span/concentration for art, creating complex mythological stories, building mixed media block/toy/paper,fabric, household object towerws, painting, writing in her journal, making up characters, listening to symphonies, watching epic movies...
Which is why I was stunned when a teacher told me she was unable to "stay on task."
Sigh.
Thanks, beautiful brilliant muralist, for recognizing a kindred spirit. Some of the other chalk works have run the length of three houses down the street.
Maybe she doesn't want to stay on task because the school tasks are so bloody boring.
(I've heard stories from my friends with kids.)
I love this, by the way.
I clicked on this from your Rebel Artist tag on the Huntington post. It's so nice to see another parent who values thinking and creativity over coloring inside the lines!
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