Over the last year, you may have noticed a drop in my collaborations with Eve and there is a very good reason for that and one I would like to share with you.
Before Eve turned 4 years old, our collaborations created an opportunity for me to teach her new techniques and allow her to experiment with different mediums, throughout the journey we bonded by creating stories and paintings together as a team. However, as children grow older they become more independent and it is incredibly important to make sure that that independent voice is supported and not drowned out by our own visions.
Perhaps I have been overly cautious, but this past year I have left our collaborative work completely in her hands. Eve has the ability to create whenever she likes as our supplies are readily available and when she chooses to invite me into her beautiful, creative world I always gladly accept.
My goal as a mother is to create a child that values and knows what PASSION is and the importance of pursuing it. As a mother, I do not want to encourage a child to strengthen specific skills but to learn how to make up their own mind and figure out what is important to them and nurture THAT.
Eve and I do still collaborate together on a regular basis but interestingly enough it has become more about creating stories together than physical works of art and I love every moment of it. I cannot wait to share some of these hilarious stories with you... Eve even wants to start making books so we will see where that takes us.
As for Theo, my little 15-month-old, our time of collaborative work is just beginning and I am excited to join him on this artistic journey of bonding and building intricate bridges of communication.
I want to thank you for supporting not only my own solo work but also the series, "Collaborations with my Toddler."
I leave you with this wonderful article that I stumbled across this evening that just reassures me in the way I view parenthood. Our job is to nurture, encourage and guide but never decide what it is our children end up becoming. It is up to them to discover passion and the value of it, otherwise, they will just become adults who feel empty, never knowing why.
Read the article here: "How to raise a creative child"
