Coloring within the lines

The best part of a new school year

When I was a kid, my favorite time of the school year was getting new supplies. And the best part of that was getting a brand new box of crayons. Good ol' Crayola Crayons! They smelled so good and perfect. All the colors. I really loved it when I got older and graduated to the really big box of 160 crayons. Whoo hoo! I had arrived! I may be grown up now, but I still delight in a new box of crayons.

Back in my day, we had a few ways to color. There was the outline the picture or section hard with the color and color lightly within the area or press a bit harder and get a richer color in the area. You could scribble around and color the spot or go neatly up and down to shade the area. Who knew that there was so much thought behind coloring!

Fast forward...

Now I have a 4-year-old grandson, named Jack. He's the light of our lives! He and I were

coloring today (best part of having kids and grand kids is being able to play without feeling like a goof!) He's getting pretty good at it. My only concern is that the coloring stay on the page. He, however was most concerned about staying in the lines. And I started thinking about it. And the more upset he got about 'making a mistake' and getting color outside the lines, the more I started thinking.

Why do we have to stay within the lines?

I'll grant you that we need to follow the laws - those are a kind of lines. And traffic - absolutely stay within the traffic lines - even on the autobahn! But who said we have to color within the lines?

Harry Chapin wrote some wonderful songs. One of the lyrics that has stayed with me is 'Green trees are green'. It's about a little child who wants to color the trees different colors but his teachers keep telling him that 'green trees are green.'

Says who?

It seems that our children are being taught and trained to do what is expected. Stay within the norms, rather than exploring their imaginations and creativity. I promise! Those creative little minds blow the lines to smithereens. What's wrong with coloring outside the lines? Why do trees have to be green? Can you imagine what color Andy Warhol or Pabo Picasso's teachers might have said about their coloring? Can you imagine what great art we would have lost?

Do we stay within the lines?

Oh hell no! We're supposed to go to school. Get good jobs Yeah, right! How's that going for ya!? Show of hands...who's here working in WA to either escape from their jobs or to create their own thing? Most of us. I don't want somebody else defining what I have can make. I don't want somebody else telling me what I have to do or when. Yeah, I still have to follow the laws and yes, there are specific things that we must do within the rules of Google, Adsense, or what ever format we're working with. But we determine our paths here.

So meanwhile, I'm trying to teach Jack that there are times that he doesn't have to stay within the lines. That it's OK to follow his creativity and imagination. It's OK to color outside the lines. And trees don't have to be green!

Here's to getting a new box of crayons and to coloring OUTSIDE the lines!

Christine