Artasia at St. Patrick EarlyON

What stood out to me was the presence of the parents in EarlyOn locations and how they influence the participation of the children. Some parents would encourage and accompany while others were not interested.

In week 1, one parent explained the prompt to the 3 year old boy and kept guiding him and giving him ideas. To the point of taking over the activity. But I realized at the end of 5 weeks that the connection was a stepping stone for the child to feel safe in the unknown process and feel confident to explore.
For the body, he coloured the face green. When I asked him why he chose green, he said ‘Because I like green’.

In week 2, Space, he asked his mother to cut the shapes he wanted because it was hard for him to cut circles from the cardstock paper. He was fascinated by the solar system and knew the names of all the planets.

In week 4, he was encouraged to try a new approach other than the prompt and explore by redefining the steps of the activity. His mother wanted him to follow the rules and I assured her that it was okay and this is an opportunity for him to experience his creativity.
For energy, he used sponge brushes and used the dripping paint from tissue papers to draw the sun, moving the dye to create the sun rays. He then drew a tree, a chair, a flower and another piece which he replied ‘I don’t know!’ to the question of what is this?

In week 5, he would not take the suggestion of his mother but rather used her idea to create a piece by changing his art piece and reassembling it inspired by her idea.
‘Blue is my favourite colour. I like dark colours like dark blue, navy. But my mom likes light colours.’ He filled the whole paper and used the paper boat that his mother made. But then he decided to take the paper boat off and use a couple of boats on a larger paper. He then called the empty blue square ’ these are walls.’

The question for me was that, is it really an interference when a parent takes over the art activity? Or is it a chance to collaborate with them?
As an observation, I realized that the difference lies in the role of the artist educator. When I assured the parent that there is no wrong way to create art, they suddenly became a collaborator and a facilitator instead of someone who controlled the situation and tried to finish the work that their child started. 

– Marjan Nemati