Oh crap.
This is never good.
I think Miss Melissa saw the look of sheer terror on my face, and immediately reassured me that La did not do anything wrong. Phew. She was actually letting me know that she's considering a new job in early childhood education and that she wanted to use one of La's "pieces" as part of her portfolio. The masterpiece that she was referencing is pictured below (right below La's mullet-in-the-making ... mental note ... get La's hair trimmed):
As you can PLAINLY SEE, the drawing is a true-to-life replica of an elephant. Errr ... with 5 legs. Then again, maybe it's just male. Anyway! I, possessing a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree with a career as a Graphic Artist, was overjoyed. I even got a tear in my eye as Miss Melissa gushed over La's work.
Me: La did that?
Miss M: Yes, I saw her coloring it at the table and couldn't believe it.
Me: La did that? You sure?
Miss M: Of course, I saw it with my own eyes.
Me: La did that?
Miss M: I know. It's so good, especially for a 4-year-old! A lot of 7-year-olds can't even do this!
Me: Was she looking at a picture of an elephant when she drew that?
Miss M: No, it came straight from her head.
Huh.
There's something fishy going on here.
So, when we got home I made her draw the elephant again. This is what she drew:
I tried to find the similarities. I turned it upside down, I flipped the page over, I held it up to the light to see if there was a magical "watermark" elephant hidden within the fibers of the paper.
Nope.
Just a jellyfish-ish creature.
Thus began the interrogation:
Me: La, did you draw that lovely elephant at school today?
La: Yep.
Me: Are you sure? Really? No one helped you at all?
La: Um, no.
Me: Did someone else draw the elephant and then you colored it in?
La: Ummmm ... well ...
Me: WHO DREW THAT ELEPHANT?
La: Carolinka drew it. And I colored it in. (Carolinka is turning 7 on Monday)
Me: And you took credit for it?
La: Yes.
I almost high-fived her for figuring out how the world works at such a young age. But instead, I just told her that it's not right to take credit for someone else's work.
And then I called my mom. I told her the story, and she laughed. She told me she always knew I was artistic. I asked her what I was drawing at the age of 4. She replied with, "I don't know. I didn't let you draw when you were 4."
Anal-retentive-mama SAY WHAT???!!!
"Oh honey," she argued, "You know how neurotic I was about my house. I was just afraid you would draw on my furniture. I'm always so surprised by how creative you turned out to be!"
Just goes to show ya that one can indeed thrive in spite of one's TOTAL COMMUNIST UPBRINGING.
1 comments:
Oh, this one made my day! You've got to love 4-year olds.
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