Expressive Arts Therapy?!

As a visual artist, I think it is very important to expose my children to art and has been a big part of our lives for many many years. I’ve done countless arts and crafts with them and promoted the use of my “real” art tools and mediums. I’ve allowed them to make messes and explore their creativity without too many limits. I think it worked really well with my 14 yr-old daughter, Haley, even if she might not remember the hours I spent with her when she was younger. I think she could actually teach me quite a bit now… see here for her amazing work…

Now for my 5 yr-old, Owen… same thing with him. He uses my “art stuff” and has created many a masterpiece himself… see here for his work! But, today I found out that hey, I have also given a creative outlet for my children to express their feelings… even if it does make me look like a mean mean mommy! haha!

Here’s the drawing Owen presented me with after I had said no, he couldn’t go downstairs by himself. He’s the one on the left crying buckets of tears, I’m on the right saying NO! and there are arrows pointing down to the basement with nobody in it:

I have to say he was quite proud of his drawing and although I wanted to laugh out loud when I saw it, I realized that this was a good opportunity to discuss his feelings that he felt strongly enough about to put onto paper!

This one’s a keeper. I think I’m going to save it and show it to him when he grows up. I also think I’m onto something with our little form of Expressive Arts Therapy and will continue to encourage my children to express themselves through their art!