4 Things I Learned From Coloring With My Daughter

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January 5, 2017

Life in General

Life lessons from mommy-daughter time? Yes indeed! Read on to see what I’ve been learning…

1. Coloring can be lots of fun!

Lately I’ve been enjoying coloring with my younger daughter. Hubby bought her an adult coloring book for Christmas (even though she is only 6), and we tend to color at night right before bed. It’s been a great winding down and bonding time for us, and I have to admit that I really do enjoy coloring. I had forgotten how much I enjoyed it because my older daughter did not enjoy coloring. It’s nice to be doing it again!

2. Don’t let your baggage weigh you down

I like to call myself a frustrated artist, because even though I enjoyed doing art in school, my teachers never seemed to appreciate my style/kind of art, and I consistently failed art. Yes, I failed. Beautifully and spectacularly. One art teacher failed me in my final exam because I used neon colors, which she hated. It was a disco scene, so in my book, those colors were totally appropriate. Another did not like my clay sculpture – maybe I was fooling myself in thinking it was halfway decent. So I’ve tried to make sure that the things that I struggled with and had bad “juju” about in school (piano is another one of those) were not the things I tried to teach in our homeschool. Some might say that was cowardly. I think it was just smart – I didn’t want my feelings and energy about those subjects clouding my instruction.

In letting loose and coloring with Miss Alex, though, I found freedom – freedom to color and to do what I wanted, how I wanted, with no fears about how my art would be perceived. And isn’t that what we should do in life? Just be the best version of ourselves with no judgment? Funny what lessons come as a result of putting coloring pencil to paper.

3. Sometimes you just need to switch your brain off and let it be still.

As a mom, it can be hard to get my brain to be still. I’m always thinking about the next thing – the next lesson to teach, the next place we have to be, what we’re doing for lunch, what I’m making for dinner, my next blog post, what I need to do for my business…on and on it goes. Even at night, even if I do a brain dump, I still think of something I forgot in the day, someone who I need to send a card to, or an idea that I HAVE to write down (or else I will forget it). Coloring helps me focus on that one thing – the colors and staying in the lines – and that focus helps my mind BREATHE.

4. Spending time with your child doing something he/she loves is never wasted.

Ok, so this shouldn’t need to be said, right? Children grow up so fast and it’s important that we take the time to spend with them when they are young, so they will want to spend time with us when they are older. And yet, with all that we have to do as moms it can seem like those games our kids want us to play are not important when we have to balance our cheque books, cook dinner and make doctor’s appointments. I don’t even want to remember the look on Miss Alex’s face the times when I’ve said, “I can’t play now. Give me a few minutes.” That few minutes turns into a whole lot more, and then I find her playing by herself.

I’ve deemed 2017 the year of focus for myself. The year to stop chasing the bright shiny objects and to really double down on what is important – my God, my family, my business. In that order. So I will be doing less on Facebook, and will be coloring and playing with matchbox cars more, and brushing the dolls’ hair more.

Anyway, for those who love to color, here is a cool video with some neat shading techniques. Hope you enjoy it, and be sure to leave me a comment and share the post if you found it valuable!