Paint a Picture of It

Anyone with small children rapidly realises what little dictators they can be and how easily they can bend you to their will, even before they can speak or do much more than lie on a wobblechair for 8 hours a day*. Grace, for example, can destroy our chances of spending an evening together just by refusing to settle down and go to sleep. Can and does.

Once they can speak, however, the 'fun' really starts. Olivia really enjoys mucking about with PlayDough, but woe betide I dare attempt to assist her. She has a set of shaped cookie-cutters that she likes to push into the dough. There's a cake and an elephant and a man and a star etc etc. She has this habit of forcing a great lump of dough into the cutter but not then trimming off the excess. I have now learned to my peril not to attempt to lean over and do this for her. She goes absolutely postal. You only have to touch the stuff unbidden and she'll go bugshit. If she's drawing - which for her is just doing big scribbles mainly, but not exclusively, on a sheet of paper. Dare to offer her a new colour to give her some variety... She goes dolally.

I have learned to keep my counsel. Apparently she's not the only one to feel like this about art.

I recently came across a blog that is just fabulous and which shows bullying of parents at its worst. Or best (not sure). Check out Tiny Art Director. Since she was two and a half, Bill Zeman's daughter Rosie has been telling her talented father what to draw. And then rejecting it. It is very, very funny and I heartily recommend it.

Bill's also been kind enough to allow me to reproduce one of his entries. It's called A Duck and a Crocodile.

The Brief: A Crocodile
The Critique: What's he going to do to that bird? Is he going to eat him? That's not what I want. You have to do it with him killing that bird.
Job Status: Rejected
Additional Comments: Killing Daddy killing! Can you do it killing him?

Do check out the site; there's some very funny ones on there.


* Please note: We do not allow our child to be on a wobblechair for 8 hours a day.