Is this your house ?
Eunice Ong-LIM – May 2017
I was in a talk where a renowned Early Childhood practitioner asked us, ‘If I asked you to draw me a house , how would you draw it?’ It was unanimous as we the audience answered.
‘a square with a triangle as the roof.’
‘And if I asked you to draw a door, where would you place it?’
‘Right in the middle of the house!’
She smiled and continued, ‘and if you had to draw windows, how many windows would there be?’
And once again, the audience chimed in complete agreement – ‘two!’
‘What would be beside your house?’ ‘A tree!’
And we fell into her trap when she summed it up perfectly:
‘I see you all went to the same school!
I did a quick Google search for ‘children’s drawing of house’, and voilà largely the same answer as we the audience had. I wondered if this would be the same across countries and continents, given we live in houses of different shapes, sizes, catering to different seasons.
The reality is my house looks like this.
Sometimes perhaps we are so quick to arrive at the correct albeit ‘standard’ answer, that we forget to make time to consider all possible and logical answers. Worst still, if we impose our correct answers on our children.
- Roses are red, but are all roses red ? 🌹
- Rabbits eat carrots. But this 🐰 eats broccoli.
- Dogs eat bones. But most days premium dog food in a doggy bowl.
The list goes on. What a timely reminder for me.
[All opinions expressed are that of the author, and in her personal capacity, it does not represent or reflect the views of any organization she may be a part of.]
Thanks: Mrs Patricia Koh.
