At 2 my son had a favorite color. It was black.
He would go to preschool and do all of his colorings and crafts with black. Finally the teacher told him he could no longer use black. He was banned from all black crayons.
He still remembers that today at age 6.
And the funny thing? He still loves to color with black. But he uses it differently now.
He likes to use black as a background and it makes his pictures “pop.” The colors stand out and contrast against the dark black. He loves to use a nice black sharpie to complete his art work with a good, strong black background. It creates visually unique pieces. I have never seen such a young child do something like that.
So my thoughts about black? I’ll admit I had moments where I worried about it. I interpreted negative emotions from his use of black. I wondered if something was wrong?
But now I understand. This child is an artist and he sees the world differently than I.
I need to respect that and not limit his choices artistically or misinterpret what he’s communicating.
Respect. I think that’s the key word here. Respect for a two year old who is exploring black. Who is drawn to the dark color and then finds out what it can do to other colors.
Let’s give our children space to explore. Let’s trust them. Let’s let them color with black if they choose and trust that there’s a reason. Even if we don’t see or understand that reason for many years, it’s there. They are learning something and experiencing something important even if we don’t know what it is.
I’m talking about coloring with black, but what I see and I know you can see is that this applies to so many things. So, so many things.
Those are my thoughts for the night.
Much love,
Leslie
