My Son, NOT the artist

This is Mateen's entry for a colouring competition he is confident he will win because his is the most colourful.

Well, it is evident from the photo that Picasso he is not.

"Wow! It's so nice!" I said when he kept showing his work-in-progress. I must say he had really put in effort, motivated by the prizes promised to the winners.
"I want to win so I can shop and shop and shop at Takashimaya!"
Alas, the art teacher in me know the impossibility of that but careful to not crush the fragile bloom of confidence, I asked:
"What if you don't win?"
"But I will!"
Whoa! "Why do you think you will win?"
"I will because mine is the nicest." He replied without even batting an eyelid.
Hmm this is going to be difficult. "But what if there are people who coloured nicer than you have?"
"No. Mine is the nicest so I will win."

Okay. At least he comes out tops in the confidence department.

"Wah! Very nice!" says the father, when shown the work via Skype and as soon as the son walked away whispered "Hmm must send him to Haroobee already huh?"

I guess you'll not be too surprised now if I were to tell you that under the comments for Art and Craft in his term report, the boy's teachers have consistently written "developing" or something to that extent to describe his development in the aesthetics area. The same remarks are applied to the Speech and Drama component.

Did I mention that I am an Art and Drama teacher?

To be absolutely honest, I must say I do feel a twinge of guilt for not trying harder to help develop these areas at times. Who wouldn't want her child to have a term report that reads "A", "A", "A" and "A"?

Thank goodness this desire to see a perfect report more often than not lasts for mere seconds before the voice of rationality sets in:
Do I want my son to only walk in my shoes and be a mini-Me? NO.
Do I want him to decide for himself what road he should take starting from the things he puts on paper, the words he utters and the actions he musters? You can bet it is a resounding YES.

Perhaps this is an unconscious attempt to assuage my guilty feelings. Or perhaps this is the means by which I justify not investing in so-called quality kinder education and enrichment classes.

I don't know. I can't be sure.

What I do know is that when I see him colour the competition entry, it was with drive, superb focus, good control of material and clarity in the choice of colours. And when I hear him talk about his work, it is articulated clearly with unwavering confidence.

At the end of the day, that is what is most important isn't it?

Ah well, I can only hope I am right.


Good Morning,
Mummy Nasyitah