Colors

Today’s daily prompt: Elicit

One thing I love about art is all the colors. There are so many different colors and they all elicit a different feeling. Red makes us think of love and passion, black reminds us of darkness and solidarity, green yells “eco-friendly!”. Combinations make us think of Christmas or other holidays, special events like a baby shower, or a specific brand.

Colors make us feel so many things, and so when we choose a favourite color, it’s just as if you’re picking a color that will evoke you.

Art, Mess, and Children

Today’s daily prompt: Filthy

Although I’m usually a receptionist at the ECE center I work at on weekends, I also assist in the art class.

Art class is fun because I loved to draw growing up and I still do for fun. My favourite part of art class is when the kids get to paint or draw on the big paper that is taped to our mirrors/walls. This is an activity that not a lot of kids (or adults) get to do in their own house for fear of it getting too messy, but at our ECE center, it’s okay to be a little messy as long as children get to explore their creativity.

It’s funny, though, that not every child is down for that.

“You’re ok. Stand up!”

This week’s moment highlight occurred at the ECE center I work at on weekends.

While I was sitting at the front desk, one little boy and his parents were sitting in the lobby eating a snack. The little boy had just become comfortable with walking on his own – he’s at that adorable stage where his little legs waddle around. So there he is, just waddling around and being a cutiepie, until he loses his balance and falls onto his stomach on the lobby floor. He stays still on the floor with his legs and arms spread out and lets out a cry as he looks up at his parents. His parents smile and wave to him from their table. They say to him, “Stand up! You can do it!”

Thoughts: What kind of a child are you?

My childhood friends and I were sitting outside one day when suddenly, one of us pointed out, “We’re all a different kind of kid.”

He went on to explain that he is the youngest child, I am the oldest, another is the middle, and the last one is the only child in our respective families. We talked about how our different positions in our families lead to us gaining different views of the world and ourselves.

While there is already a bunch of psych research on stuff like this explaining why we feel or act a certain way, it was still really interesting (and amazing, in a small way) to compare it all. I got to share the roots of myself and more importantly, I was able to gain more insight on other perspectives.

I’ve talked about this topic with several people and below are some snippets of some of our conversations. I feel as if they are better conclusions of what being the oldest, middle, youngest, or only child means.

Movies: Inside Out

I enjoyed Pixar’s Inside Out a lot more than I thought I would. It was cute and quirky how Disney incorporated a “theme-park” setting inside Riley’s brain such as HQ, the mazes of long-term memory, the train of thought, etc. Complicated cognitive processes are transformed into clever representations such as imagination land, dream productions, the secret vault (deleted scene), and more.

Disney has a knack for entertaining children and adults alike. I’m not sure if it’s because I deal with many parents at my part-time, but I can definitely see how Inside Out can become an effective parenting tool to help teach kids the role of emotions and how our actions result from them.

The 3 themes I enjoyed the most from Inside Out were growing up, emotional pressure, and changes.

Books: The Rhythm of Memory

I received The Rhythm of Memory by Alyson Richman as a gift from a friend I admire very much (#helenfan). It is mostly about a woman named Salome and her movie star husband, Octavio. They lead a very romantic story-book life until she is kidnapped and abused during Chile’s political turmoil in the 60’s. Richman weaves in a second love story about Salome’s therapist, Dr. Samuel Rudin, and his wife, Kaija. Samuel blames himself for his mother’s depression during Nazi Germany and Kaija is a Finnish war orphan who was adopted in Sweden. All 4 characters deal with heavy trauma from memories and the novel is about overcoming one’s own past and moving forward.

Richman incorporates history from a span of European countries, which can be a confusing idea, but she is able to pull it off without it reading like a textbook. The tone is more old-fashioned, but I enjoyed the ups and downs of emotional disasters all the characters go through.

Interesting concepts from this book: Courtship, Transference, and Childhood Trauma.

TV: Dad, Where Are You Going?

Dad, Where Are You Going? is a South Korean reality show where celebrity dads go on trips with their kids. Most of the trips are to rural villages or campsites, with the odd international trip. I first started watching it when it debuted in 2013. Since then, I watched for 2 years and I recently finished the last episode of season 2. The last episode had me bawling like a baby.

Aside from my personal preference to Korean television, I love kids. I work with kids and I find there is something very fulfilling and fun in watching them grow. When season 1 ended, I was amazed at how much the kids had matured and I couldn’t believe that I, a girl on the other side of the globe, had watched them for an entire year (yes, I felt a little weird). At the end of season 2, I was very touched by how the fathers had matured.

Dad, Where Are You Going? explores the identity of fathers and their relationships with their children. It gently prompts viewers to question: What is a father? What is a “good” father? Why are children afraid of their fathers more than their mothers? What can we do to change that?

Children and the Environment

One of the students I tutor is in sixth grade. We recently read a story that introduced Ford and the assembly line process in the manufacturing of automobiles during the 1910’s. The chapter highlighted the benefits of mass production and industrialization, allowing families to be able to travel more efficiently. One of the questions asked him, “Why do you think many people were hesitant to replace the horse and carriage with the automobile?”

It was an opinion question so there wasn’t really a right or wrong answer. As long as he was able to support his answer with clear reasoning, I would mark it correct. His answer was this: Because people were afraid of pollution with so many automobiles.

This answer was not one that I expected. From the reading, I assumed he would’ve written something about it being unsafe or expensive. I may not have any specific sources to back me up on my assumption, but I am pretty darn sure that the problem of pollution did not enter anyone’s mind until much later. His answer most definitely did not reflect the values or perspectives of the people living in America during 1913. Perhaps it does, however, reflect the values and perspectives of many children in North America today.