Earlier this week I was listening to a religious podcast and the speaker made the most amazing analogy to studies. It’s stuck with me ever since. She said that our minds are like museums that are constantly building and curating the stories and lessons we learn in our religious studies. What if we took that same concept and applied it to our children’s lives?
Imagine with me that your child’s mind is an art gallery…
It’s filled with photos, drawings, and sculptures. But these pieces of art are not from masters like DaVinci or Monet. They are from your child and filled with color, sounds, and smells unique to them.
Making your way to the first room you find a gallery of portraits. Some are early sketches or quick drawings while others are detailed paintings or photographs. These are the people in your child’s life. The early sketches may be people who were only there for a season but left an impression on them. The detailed portraits are those who made great impacts on their life – a favorite teacher, an inspiring coach, or family members they love or maybe miss. And You.
With each portrait, you can see the feelings the person enveloped your child with – LOVE. HOPE. PASSION. CONFIDENCE. FEAR. AMBITION. CREATIVITY.
Continuing on, you find yourself in a gallery room surrounded by only photographs. It’s hundreds of frozen moments, landscapes, and still lifes. These are the places imprinted on their heart. The memories of camping with cousins, laying in a field watching the stars, and dancing on dad’s toes. The Flowers they picked for mom. The first car they drove. A first date. Each photograph memory building them into the person they are.
Scattered around all the rooms are pedestals with sculptures of personal triumphs and favorite things. A favorite pet, baseball glove, or first stuffy are a few you may see among the bronzes of a boy fishing with grandpa, mom sewing a new blanket, or a child swinging a baseball bat.
The next room in the gallery is the written word room. Quotes are painted and projected on the walls. They are phrases from people, books, and movies in your child’s life. Key phrases that guide them through difficult times or bring them comfort when down. Words of praise and affirmations deep within their conscious and character. A wall on the far side is a library of books. Some are Books like the collections of Dr. Seuss, Harry Potter, The Bible, Narnia, and The Giver. But mixed about them are handwritten stories of fighting pirates on the high seas of your couch and camping with dad in the back yard. You’ll find the autobiography of dealing with the fourth-grade bully, and a journal of dates gone wrong. All stories they will recall later in life to tell their children or friends.
The last gallery is filled with a variety of art forms from sculpted stone and books to canvas and photographs. This room is your child’s core memories that make them who they are. You see their first win, dancing on dad’s toes, sitting on the deck in a blanket during a storm with mom and so many more. These are core memories, the foundation to help them through life.
The final room you enter before leaving is the most amazing. It is the working studio part of the gallery. Papers and sketches litter the tables and walls of masterpieces to be created. A canvas is perched on the easel with paints at the ready to capture the essence of a moment or person. Stone stands above chisels awaiting its creator’s hands.
I would love to hear your thoughts on this imagery! What kind of core memories do you think are in your mind or your child’s mind? What is his or her art gallery filled with, and what will he or she create?
