Growing up I developed no talent in art, save for about three years in our high school theater club. Even that started not for the reason of learning art, but for friends and the benefit it gives on grades in certain subjects. Art was least of our priorities. Our parents emphasized on how important it is to do well in academics, and to some extent sports, but gave very little support to learning or developing inclination to art.
Although @dandalion grew up in a more financially comfortable life, they did also have their share of challenges in that front. The key difference is that she did not let obstacles get in the way of creativity. We've been convinced early on that it is best for her to focus on our children's development, and I must say she's doing fantastic.
In the last couple of months, our youngest Sam's been attending coaching sessions for a declamation piece. She represented her school in a declamation contest organized by the school association in our city. Here she is in action:
The video was taken with a mobile phone and the audio did not come out clear enough. Here is the piece she was reciting:
The Rich Man and the Poor Man
Author: Unknown
“Food and money I give to you,
Why do you shout so mercily
When I give you your part?”
queried the rich man.
The poor man replied:
“Your question you cannot answer
For from pain and agony you are free,
But I have suffered and borne
The situation that I don’t like to be in.”
“That I couldn’t understand
Because Life for me is easy;
I take this and take that,
And life is just what I want it to be.”
consented the rich man.
“Comfort your mind, rich man,
with realities of death.
Your wealth I do not envy
For you can not buy
eternity with money.
If to live happily
is to live in hypocrisy,
Then I prefer to be silly
so I would be holy.
Life you love so much you will lose
And only then will you understand
What agony is,” the poor man shouted.
“Ha! Ha! Ha! You say so
For you desire this place of mine.
Indulgence you have clouded with reason
But I understand because of your situation.”
boastfully the rich man said.
Outraged the poor man answered:
“How pitiful the person blinded with pleasure;
No, you don’t care of our journey
That you have created through your greediness.
Come now, man of weak soul!
Your days are numbered for you to face
The Man of Love.
You may not cry now but later you will
When the chilling reality of the last judgment
Comes across your way;
Yes, then you will pity, but not for me.
Not for anybody else.
But for yourself only!
Yes, eat, drink, and be merry.
For tomorrow you shall die!
We have children who do their best, and understand that things can always be done better; self can always be improved.
The declamation was quickly followed by a dance to celebrate the foundation day of their school. This meant another series of practice during weekends. There was an option to opt-out of the dance, but we thought of this as an opportunity to get her yet again exposed to another art.
She's asthmatic and the exercise in dancing can help in that aspect as well.
In another post she spoke about how art helped her cope with losing our unborn baby boy a year and a quarter ago.
We have also recently started a weekly miniature craft sessions. This also serves as a bonding time for me and the kids. While I wasn't given talent in drawing, I am quite good at measurements and following directions. We get the ideas for the miniature crafts from a youtuber who's niche is all about it. You can find her work here: Rainbow Tinkle's World. The photo below is from my post 🎨Miniature Crafts - Weekend Bonding | Mini Handbag🎨 about one of our weekend sessions.
How is Art Helping us with Sam & Lucy's Education?
The positive actions in art help us encourage expression of emotions, both positive and negative in a relatively safer way.
Sam and Lucy get to develop keen observation and awareness of how things can always be done better, and self improved on an on-going basis.
Though less obvious, art helps our children practice decision making. This is more clear in visual arts.
What shade of red is best to use in a piece? Or is it better to use water color, pastel, crayons, or paint?
On values formation, art helps shape their respect for diversity. There is multiple ways to deliver a declamation piece for example, like what Sam learned in her competition.
Sam's dance had performances inspired by different cultural dance from many countries. Theirs for example is from China. This helps in teaching our kids appreciate cultural differences.
Performing arts helps us teach our daughters how some things in life have to be done on their own, and how other things require collaboration.
The most important lesson is how life isn't always about winning. How in a great majority of time, the reward is in doing things for and with people you love and respect.
Art can be used to teach kindness and love too as it turns out. In one of the outreach programs we've done with @steemph, we taught special children about art and music. We brought Sam and Lucy along and they both had fun interacting with both the kids and volunteers.
Credits:
Cover Photo Image from Pixabay
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