DRAWING FOR CHILDREN

“Andyyyyyy, what is this? Why did you make the wall so, aouw, no, no, no, it is so bad, you know?” Sarah shouted when she show the picture in the wall in his living room. Andy, 6 years old, who is still making any lines and adding a blue colour in the wall, just turns his head and looking forward to his mother, then said:

“Sorry mom, Andy just wanna make the picture of children who wanna go to the far place by plane, but, they can’t do it because, they don’t have fathers anymore. And their mother is very busy and don’t have money to make a holiday. Finally, they make the plane by themselves and, show this mom, they can make the plane by themselves. It’s very great, isn’t mom? But, this child is still crying because he is longing his father.”

“But, Andy, you must know that you have made our house so dirty, you have drawn in the wall, how is there is a guest or mom’s friend come here? Oh, my god, I must clean it and paint the wall again.”

Andy just can let his mother clean his drawing silently, because it is useless to cry, his mother will never let him to make a picture in the wall anymore today, but tomorrow he will make a drawing again, even though his mother will be angry and will clean his picture.

***

The above event commonly happens in our surrounding. Andy is one of children who don’t have father anymore, because his parents has been divorcing since he was 2 years old, and until know, he never meet his father anymore. Drawing is one of the way to express the own self of somebody. When somebody draw line, colour, make the shade area, make the shape and type of picture, and also the theme of picture, so he has the mean and aim in which generally these relate to his experiences. Therefore, when we show the children is drawing, so, we cannot just forbid them to make a drawing. Yet, we also must support him to draw in order that he can express their emotional experiences. By this way, it will help him to be brave in revealing his expression in freedom.

If we ask the children about the meaning of the picture they has made, sometimes, they will answer that they do not know or just shake a head, and will advance their drawing in silence. Yet, sometimes, they will tell what about their picture and why they make those pictures. Further more, when we observe the pictures deeply, the expression of children in pictures is relatively very varying among others. This is caused that drawing is the activity that related to the personal experience of somebody who make it, so anything in the drawing will represent the personal dynamic related to his experience (such as the children that ever has the bad experience such as, parents divorce, bad treatment of someone or his own parents, nice experience when holiday, etc). So, never forbid the children make their drawing when they would like to draw, just help them to make their draw without disturb the adult activity (such as give them the special room to express themselves and give them some tool to make a draw, so they will not make home full with the many scratches of line and colour, and others). Because, beside it will make them free of worry and expressively, and also will make them relieve their burden of feeling, by make drawing freely, children will be able to increase their intelligent, either intellectual intelligent or emotional intelligent, and even their spiritual intelligent.