Why you shouldn't register your kid for art lessons.....and how you know it's time!
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Here are three reasons why you shouldn't register your child for art lessons:
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Don't register a kid who has no interest in art. They tend to sit there acting bored and grumpy, sometimes putting no effort whatsoever into their art projects. As a mom, I've had this happen with my own kids' activities, and it's very frustrating. And the more you push, the more they push back!
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Don't register a kid who isn't open to learning and only wants to spend the time drawing "their own thing." You'll be wasting your money. (And it feels very frustrating and demeaning to the teacher.) I don't teach a certain style but I do teach art techniques/concepts that can be applied to anything they want to make in the future. Some kids cannot wrap their brains around that future-speak. (It's hard for them at that age!) But insisting on doing their own things defeats the purpose of having someone teach you. Encourage them to be open to learning so they can figure out how to apply those tips to their own art.
- Don't register a kid who only wants to draw anime or cartoons. These things are not my specialty, and I don't include them in my drawing curriculum.
And four clues that you should register a kid for art lessons:
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Do register a child who expresses interest in learning how to draw things more realistically. Your child says things like: "How do I make this tiger look real?" "This dog looks weird!" Or, "The head looks 'off.'" They don't usually know why something looks "off," but they can recognize that it is.
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Do register a child who shows non-verbal interest in art, too: He or she may spend hours and hours on the same drawing with very little progress. They may constantly erase or scribble over it, even crumpling it in frustration and giving up. (Notably, some of this can overlap with perfectionist tendencies or not yet having developed resilience for difficult tasks.)
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Do register a child who wants to learn how to draw on their own, even if they get frustrated with their lack of knowledge/skills on how to do this. Scribbling and crumpling are not necessarily a bad thing. It's just a reaction to their own frustration. Over time, they learn to persevere in their drawings and paintings.
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Do register a child who is getting bored of step-by-step YouTube videos that don't really dive into deeper techniques. They don't really know what's missing from the tutorials; they just know they don't feel satisfied with the videos. Made-for-kids art videos can sometimes be shallow in depth, so kids who yearn to know more and want real feedback to improve feel frustrated with the amount of information they're getting.