Art Therapy and Learning from my own Little!
3/20/2019 Art Therapy and Getting Schooled by my own Little!
This morning was a tough one as a Mommy with my own little. Son was home from school because he wasn’t feeling well- not very ill, but just sick enough to need an extra few hours of rest. I was feeling a mixture of sympathy for him and frustration for myself in that I had to rearrange my work meetings. We had our breakfast, then there was the dreaded “I’m bored Mommy…”. So we dove straight into a game of monopoly to help pass the time! Things were smooth sailing in the beginning, and then I stumbled upon a lucky streak…Son was now losing the game. Not feeling well AND losing at monopoly was a little too much to handle this particular morning for him! So began the whining, followed by a mini tantrum, and then the grand finale of running into his room with a solid door slam…
I poured another cup of coffee (it was going to be a long morning), and started with some chores around the house. While doing said chores, I was still feeling stressed out for both of us-remember he was sick and I was missing work so we were both clearly the victims in this scenario (from my ignorant perspective). After relieving some steam through washing dishes, I suddenly realized he had been in his room for an unusually long amount of time and called out to him.
Son came running into the kitchen and excitedly told me he had a surprise! “Mommy, I drew some pictures while I was in my room. Do you want to see?” he asked proudly. He then showed me half dozen pictures he had drawn of various scenarios with cars. He had used the calm down technique (see pic below) while he was having his strong emotion of anger and then channeled it into his art. I couldn’t have been a prouder Mom at that moment…and also felt a little sheepish. I had been schooled by my own son! While I was sulking, he had turned his energy into creating art! Art is a great therapy tool used to process strong emotion and can be taught as soon as your little can hold a pencil or crayon. I highly encourage you to give it a try the next time your children are having a hard time with their feelings. In the meantime, I’ll be bringing out my adult coloring books and joining my little!
