Children look towards their parents for encouragement.

A child would put full enthusiasm into everything of interest. In their enthusiasm, they concentrate on their project without thoughts for their surroundings, their clothes and the condition of their appearance. Thus, it is not surprising to find a child so involved in something that he/she does not bother about time. The child will go on and on with his/her interest.

This is something parents ought to understand to appreciate the cause of their ignoring calls to dinner and so forth which is interference to the child’s present time joy. Understand that the child is putting in one hundred percent interest in his effort. Do not expect him to stop immediately. Go and get his attention slowly and gradually, then tell him/her about his/her next project. Get the child to turn his interest towards another direction.

As the child puts in effort into whatever is being done, clothes are bound to be dirtied, wet and crumpled. Even the hair, face and body may get some nature’s colours and pastes. So, if possible, keep the dirt and bacteria from him/her, not keep him/her away from the contaminants. Meaning that if the child plays in a clean environment; a well-kept room or hall perhaps, then the chances of him or her getting dirtied can be very slim. However, let the child play on sandy, clayey or loamy ground and we can expect more changes of clothes.

Now, the above would warn parents about the things they can expect and so not go into a rage over such matters. Do not grumble or scold about the messiness of his/her efforts. Give him a smile instead and get him or her to bathe more often. Encourage all his/her efforts for, good or bad, clean or dirty, artistic or not, they are all sincere efforts at achievement. Never judge the work done by our adult standards. If we do that, the child does not stand a chance to feel confident to carry on. Remember that children learn through such play. They learn about things around them, the effect of such things on their hands, the feel and texture and, even more important, the appreciation of their work. Without adult appreciation, there can be no encouragement to continue putting in effort. So never ever dampen such efforts.

To understand the importance of this, adults should stop and think of the feelings felt each time someone appreciates their efforts, be it games, fun or work. If you know these feelings, then you understand how vital appreciation is to the development of any child.

So, the next time your child were to scrawl or drawl something on a piece of paper, colour it with crayons or colour pencils, do ensure that you find the time to stop at least for a short moment whatever you are doing to take a look at his/her work, smile lovingly to him or her and show your appreciation of the effort. Be grateful that your child is trying something and learning in the process.

I stress on this because of the numerous times busy parents would shoo away their children with their seemingly unimportant piece of art work or small piece of self-made craft. Of course, you may not be impressed with his work as you are an adult but that is your child’s wholehearted attempt at expression or creativity in a piece of child art. Know that those few minutes of appreciation, now and then, each and every day can bring so much much needed encouragement for your child’s progress in his growth of self-esteem, a self respect which would give him/her the confidence to learn even more and develop positively as he or she transforms from a child to a teenager into an adult with a sense of self worth that would hold him/her in good stead in every sphere of life.

So do stop to appreciate whenever a child approaches with something he/she had made. The fact that this child approaches to show it must mean that he/she have to be looking for some assurance that his/her efforts are worthwhile and his/her learning process can continue with confidence.