Emotional Art

I believe in my children being able to express their feelings, whether I want to deal with them or not. The last thing I want is for them to feel like they need to contain their emotions and keep them bottled up. Of course, I do believe there is an inappropriate way to express emotions, and I have tried to teach them what I consider to be the right and wrong ways. Being kids, I run into tantrums and outbursts pretty much on a daily basis, but there is always room to learn and grow, and my daughter has discovered a wonderful way to express her emotions (though she still does have semi violent outbursts now and then): drawing.

My daughter was sad because her friend wasn't outside to play with her. After expressing her upset, she sat down at the kitchen table and drew this self portrait. She is a natural artist, and draws ALL the time, but being able to use her creativity in such a way as to help manage her emotions, particularly the ones she does not enjoy feeling, is wonderful, both for her and for this already frazzled momma.