Thursday, February 23, 2012

Rebel Artist

"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:

Chrissy Brand said...

I wish life were more like that sidewalk -or "pavement" in English English ;-) A wonderful post!

Judy Williams said...

(sigh) if more things were like the imaginative whimsy of a child's drawings.....

ben wideman said...

You have a brilliant child. And you are a brilliant parent!

Mister Earl said...

Wow!

Dixie Jane said...

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.

Michelle said...

What a remarkable child. I love this.

Shanna said...

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...

Anonymous said...

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.

Mister Earl said...

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.

Shanna said...

"Think different." -Steve Jobs, inventor of the iphone

Gary said...

You know, you're a very good writer, Laurie.

Laurie Allee said...

Thank you, thank you, thank you my fellow outside-the-box friends.

:-)

Hilda said...

Me three.

Anonymous said...

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.

Pasadena Adjacent said...

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?

Pasadena Adjacent said...

so she's creating a street scene on the street. Yes, I enlarged this - it's a keeper

Laurie Allee said...

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.

Green Guy said...

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.

Anonymous said...

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!