A Representation of Family

I could never have imagined how much my children’s drawings would encourage me on this parenting journey.

I see something very truthful about children’s drawings. And it’s not just truthful, but more than that: there’s an underlying truth.  So often it helps me see what resonates with them; how they see themselves and our family; what they particularly enjoyed about a holiday or expidition. 4 examples below.

One

In the excitement of an upcoming Easter trip, my 8-year-old daughter drew the picture below and shared it with me. So interesting: she explained to me that each child (4) have a different shape on their respective sleeping bags – diamond, square, heart, triangle. And then Mum and Dad have all the shapes together on their sleeping bag. I thought: What a gorgeous representation of family!  So much togetherness there.

Two

Three

The kids and I decorated an outdoor tree and many afternoon you’ll find them playing there.  I wrote about this drawing here.

Four

There are some particular moments in this parenting journey that make your mother-heart sing. Moments that help you realise there is essence there underneath all the chaos.

Miss 10 and Miss 8 showed me something they had been working on together. You see, Miss 8 was struggling to find “clothes to reflect something about yourself” as prescribed for the school concert. So Miss 10 said they could do brainstorming together to work it out. I only found out about this after it was all done.

They each used an A4 piece of paper to write and draw how they see themselves

Miss 10: Sporty, social, different, weird, friendly, awesome, bird-lover, imaginative, strange, messy, free, cool, likeable, wild. (I LOVE how she sees her unique quirkiness as a good thing and she’s so confident about it! BEST!)

Miss 8: Sporty, pretty, social, cool, dramatic, wild, free. (I love that her picture of ‘free’ is with arms up in the a air).

Then Miss 10 together with Miss 8 found an outfit that reflected herself and Miss 8 felt so happy with it. Best solution to “I don’t know what to wear that I have ever seen!” My heart warmed at the reflection of sisterhood, at the representation of worth, at the undercurrents of beauty on this motherhood journey.