Pause Life for a Moment- His Creation or Mine

JDaniel’s oldest and most dear friend Jake turned four last week. Jake’s mom decided to hold his birthday party at a local firehouse.

She is an expert baker and cake decorator. I was not surprised to see this beautifully decorated fire truck at his party.

Before we headed over the party I suggested to JDaniel that he draw a fire truck that we could place in Jake’s present bag instead of making or buying a birthday card.

I laid out crayons and copy paper for both of us to draw on. This was going to be an opportunity to teach JDaniel how draw a simple fire truck using simple square, rectangles and circles. I would show him how to draw one and then he would create his own version of the fire truck.

Once things were setup on the kitchen table, I called him over to create with me.

He took a seat right next to me and listened to my plan. He watched me show him how to create a fire truck. When I had finished, he pronounced it to be a very nice fire truck.

Now it was his turn to create a fire truck. I had given him an example of what the final product should look like. I waited with baited breath to see what he would create.

He selected a red crayon just as I had. He placed it on the paper and made a gigantic circle. A circle wasn’t needed until it was time to the fire truck was done and then it won’t need that big of a wheel.

He continued drawing adding several dots and some long  and short lines to the circle.

The teacher in me started to think about what I have said wrong in my directions that lead to a big circle and not a square or rectangle.

The teacher continued to wonder if he had forgotten how to draw a rectangle or a square. Maybe I had only dreamed that he knew how to draw them in the first place.

Finally the mom in me kicked in and finally asked JDaniel what he was drawing.

“Oh! I am drawing a fire cat! Jake loves cats and fire. I thought he would love this.” JDaniel announced.

“Should I write down what it is on the paper?” I asked.

JDaniel looked horrified. “Mom, he will know what it is!” JDaniel declared.

Part of me wanted to write down what it was! Part of me wanted it to be a truck just like the one I had drawn.

The wise part of me paused for a moment and realized that this wasn’t my drawing it was his. That wise mom part stopped to think about how JDaniel would feel if I insisted on it being my way.

It is that wise mom part that I hope will prevail in instances like this and remember that when JDaniel creates the creation he makes is his not mine.