Introducing Your Child to the Arts – A Life-Long Lesson

It’s funny how some people can walk into an art museum and stand in awe of everything inside, while others go into the same museum and spend the entire time saying “how is this art?” or “I don’t get it.”

(I guess it’s not so funny when the person you’re walking with is the one complaining about all of the exhibits while everyone else around you is chuckling under their breath – I’ve been there!)

I think the difference between these two ways of seeing art is extremely fundamental – something that comes from the person’s basic understanding of what art is. One person walks around a museum and experiences the works on display. The other walks around assigning value to everything inside as if it’s the sales floor of an Ikea. And that difference, I believe, is created in childhood.

The real appreciation of a work of art transcends just “looking at it” – although that’s part of it when you’re dealing with visual mediums. Appreciating art in full entails a sort of understanding and even empathy. It means connecting with what the artist was trying to say through their work, and the process involved in creating that message. And all of this is a response that must be learned and encouraged.

It makes sense that the best way for a person to learn about feeling this connection is by creating their own art. When someone begins to express their own thoughts and feelings through painting, coloring, music, or dancing, they develop an understanding of how that whole process works – in other words, they learn that art is so much more than the object that the artist has on display.

I believe that all children can benefit from this understanding of deeper meanings. It’s that same understanding that allows people to embrace diversity and feel a deep empathy toward other human beings. On a human level, it’s so much more important than the calculating and rigid teachings of mathematics or logic (while math and logic serve important purposes, they are terrible ways to connect with other people.)

Art is humanity. And as the world around us becomes more electronic, with a quicker pace and a laser-focus on efficiency and productivity, the need for art has only become more pronounced. Sadly, art isn’t considered efficient, productive, or even necessary by many educators (or governments) and thus it’s one of the fields that’s being left behind so kids can learn more math and science.

That means it’s our responsibility to carry on the torch of teaching children about art and expression while they’re young and open to understanding it for what it is.

The good news is that, as far as responsibilities go, sharing in the joy of the arts is a pretty fun and exciting one to have!