I’m not talking about a horse who thinks a glass is half empty or half full here.  I am talking about an actual horse with half a pair of glasses.  Well, maybe not a real horse, but one my daughter drew when she was 5.  This horse.

When she brought home this picture we were stunned and in awe.  It was her first piece after starting at a local after school art class put on by one of my artist friends.  While I was calling the teacher to check and see if my daughter had really drawn this, my little girl -Charlie- was telling me it wasn’t done.  “It needed glasses”  I looked over my shoulder to see her drawing pink glasses on this incredible and jaw dropping artwork -I yelled, “Don’t do that!! Stop!!”  And she did.  Half way through drawing some fantastic pink glasses, she stopped.  And then, instant regret filled my mind.  Why?!  Why did I tell her stop creating?  Why didn’t I let her make that horse HERS?!  Why the heck would I tell her that horse didn’t need glasses?  He might be blind and I just ruined his life….but, seriously I felt really bad.  I later handed her a pink colored pencil asking her to finish the glasses and told her that I was sorry I stopped her from completing her picture.

But!  In her 5 year old mind, she moved on, she was done with that blind horse.  And now he hangs on my wall as a reminder to never tell a child to stop making art, to stop creating, to stop being YOU.  He stares at me with his one good eye making sure I don’t crush the dreams and creative thoughts of small children 😉

Never tell a child to stop creating art, learn from my mistake. Some mom thoughts for ya this week. 😉

For more about local children’s art classes in Utah- click here- Art for Children