Squashing Artisic Expression
Now, don't get me wrong. I'm all for creativity. But when my son came home from first-grade with a drawing a stick-figure stabbing a dinosaur with a sword, complete with blood and the dinosaur saying "no no no" and the stick figure saying "YES!" I was flabbergasted.
1) The kid loves dinosaurs.
2) Blood? Swords? The hell?
3) Violent drawings? At school? Great.
So, we questioned him about it. He thought it "was cool" and didn't seem to get it that drawing a person stabbing something was not a good reflection of character in the eyes of the most people.
The kid doesn't play video games. He doesn't watch violent movies. Until this drawing came home, all his play acting revolved around getting his herd to the Great Valley before the Big Freeze. At least, to my knowledge it has.
And there's the sticky situation. He's at school now, and he's playing with kids who have had a broader experience with superheros and slaying dragons and God knows what else. On one hand, I'm thrilled that he's expanding his universe, and branching out into new worlds of imagination. On the other hand, I'm tempted to lock him in his bedroom and pipe in Raffi tunes for the next 50 years.
I know that this little drawing isn't a sign of the apocalypse. It just stunned me to see, in my shaking hand, proof that my son is changing. I'm not ready for him to be slaying monsters just yet.
NaBloPoMo - Day 4
Comments
For me the fear started when all the Halloween costumes had to involve a weapon.
I have never had guns in the house, but with three boys, they will make them out of anything they can. Is it genetic?
Posted by: Mamma Loves | November 4, 2006 11:43 AM
It's a 'boy' thing.
Really.
When Coffeekid (now 14) came home with the bloody skeleton man monster thing fighting a soldier, I realized it was a boy thing - but also made sure to point out that perhaps he should save those drawings for at home and that his teacher might not understand the creativity behind them. LOL.
In other words - I told him "don't draw anymore blood pictures at school, k dude? Or they'll call me into the principals office and I'll get a parent detention!" :)
Posted by: meritt | November 4, 2006 7:21 PM
Not to worry, it's a guy thing. My son put a vacuum hose, bazooka like, on his shoulder to "shoot some big roars" at 18 months. He was so not watching war movies at that age. It's just like girls and princesses. Boys want that fairy tale stuff just a much as the girls. Only they want to be the prince and slay the dragons. They dearly want to be brave and heroic. The trick is to channel that into non-violent actions and to show them you don't have to be violent to be heroic. Just my two cents.
Posted by: Gigi | November 5, 2006 12:09 AM
My 4 year old is all about power rangers right now. I swear, until about two days ago, he'd never even watched the power rangers. I gave in and watched an episode with him this weekend. The most inane show I've ever watched..and I've seen some crappy stuff. Off it went. Now, with a trip to Disney pending, all he talks about is wanting to see the power rangers. FOr the last year, it's been about spiderman and making the web-shooting noise. Now it's about power rangers and their moves. Lord help me when he gets to the drawings!:) Good luck!
Posted by: gigem | November 6, 2006 1:21 PM