Thursday, March 01, 2007

Categories



In movies, a child's drawing offer exciting and plot-relevant insight into the child's point of view. Children draw relatives dying three days before that character dies a gruesome on-screen death. They draw memories of past lives, or ghosts that only they can see.

But in the mundane real world, children's drawings tend to be a little more generic. It's true that each child has their own style. Imogen's people have disturbingly short legs and Genevieve's have no body at all, but their limbs simply grow out of their heads. "Look mommy, I drew you as a mutant!" But mostly they are just drawings.

However, sometimes you get a drawing that does actually offer insight into your child's mind, and while it may not be a supernatural indication that your child is ready for therapy, it can be interesting nonetheless.

See the drawing above. Imogen brought this home from school. This is her family, from right to left, Genevieve, Imogen, myself, and Jeremy. Hair is a defining feature here, classifying each family member into the tiny group in which they belong. We are grouped as a family and then sub grouped into people who are similar.

I've always hated labeling people. In high school you have all these labels. Skater, goth, punk, emo, jock, alpha, etc. People like Imogen invented those labels, I'm convinced of it, out of a need to categorize.

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