What to say to your little artist when they bring home art from school

My name is Naava and I am your family’s new art teacher.

Here is some guidance on what to say to your child when they bring home art from school. Believe it or not, you can say the wrong thing. And as their parent, your words matter the most to them.

When you pick up your child from school and they’ve got paint on their hands and in their hair, instead of saying, “I don’t know how I’m gonna clean that,” I want you to say to them, “YOU are an ARTIST.”

Watch the smile that unfolds on their face.

If your child operates through art class worrying that they’re going to get in trouble about getting messy, they’re going to start associating that feeling with art making. It will stay with them and build anxiety. I’ve seen it happen.

This is a big one: When your child comes home and shows you a drawing that they made of grandma, I don’t want you to say to them, “That doesn’t look like her.”

I want you to look at the drawing and say: “Wow, that looks JUST like her!”

Even if it doesn’t. Especially if it doesn’t.

What they’ve done in that drawing is create the essence of their grandmother through their heart and hands. If you tell them that it doesn’t look like her, they’re going to think they’re bad at art. They’re going to throw the drawing away and never try again.

It’s not only about representational art. When they present you with a piece of cardboard that is covered in glitter and scotch tape and paper towel rolls and the only thing you want to say is, “What is this??” Please don’t say that.

Instead, say this: “Wow, YOU are an ARTIST.”

And you know what? It’s not a lie. They are an artist. You didn’t see their process. You didn’t see the amount of decisions they made, how they shared their supplies with their friends, how they made conscious choices along the away. You were just handed the finished product at the end of the day. But trust their art teacher. Your child made that?? They really are an artist.

No matter what they come home with, your job is to support your child’s art endeavors. Be their cheerleader instead of their criticizer, and that will take them way farther towards their creative destiny. This is only the beginning and you don’t want to miss what happens next.