In kindergarten Vanessa was told many times she shouldn't color something unrealistically, like purple hair on a person. It took everything in me to not flip out -- don't hamper my daughter's creativity!!! Such nonsensical direction! Instead I told Vanessa just to play the game but there was nothing wrong with her creativity, especially since I know her understanding of things. Why couldn't the little girl in the picture have purple hair?! Can I just add, though, that her 1st grade teacher was quite the opposite and embraced and highlighted these wonderful things about Vanessa? He would tell me "That girl will go far. She hits things out of the ballpark. If she keeps it up, she'll be able to do whatever she wants when she grows up." I hope we have more teachers like him in her school career.
Theodor Geisel's art teacher noted that he never drew realistically. His classmates voted him least likely to succeed. Instead he had an immeasurable impact on our culture and world. I want to read and learn more about the impact his mother had on him.
I should grab a photo of the contraption Vanessa made a couple of months ago using plastic bracelet cording. She tied it to the back of her door and across her room to a hook on the far wall. She added weights to it -- gel pens -- so it props her door open just enough. When I first discovered her work, I sighed. Then I thought of Ferris Bueller's Day Off, when he tied a the string/rope from his door to the mannequin. I can see how their personalities are similar. I left the cord attached, climbing over it to get to her closet many times. Since I've wondered when I should ask her to take it down, but just the other day, to relate to another idea, she explained why she made it. She is a whiz-kid.
Sometimes she uses her rainbow loom to make bracelets of many colors with no set pattern. Other times she's convinced her way of tying the bracelet bands in "ninja knots" is better.
I regret and feel bad for when I've tried to direct her to conform. Why do I care what others think? She's brilliant and when I push worldly standards away, she feels my love and best support.
John 15:18-19
