Art Classes

I had recently signed Girlie up for art classes.

She was very excited, since she loves to draw and color. And she was very proud of her new art kit.

She practically bounced into her first class. And she was thrilled when she found out that they would be drawing a horse, since her new invisible friend is Fluttershy, a My Little Pony.

"Oh, no," the instructor told her, when she realized what Girlie was doing. "We aren't doing this freehand. We are going to copy this horse, which was painted by an artist named Degas."

Girlie looked at her paper and then looked at the photo she was supposed to copy. And the she looked her art teacher right in the eye and said, "I don't want to."

The art teacher blinked and then looked at me. I shrugged. I was not the go to person at this point.

"Why not?" The art teacher asked.

"Because that horsie doesn't have wings or pink hair," Girlie explained in a tone that clearly conveyed she thought the art teacher was an idiot.

"But... but... that's the picture we are copying," the art teacher said, at a loss.

"Well, that's dumb," Girlie said.

At that point, I stepped in. Even though I agreed with her - that is dumb. If she wants to draw a horse her way, why not let her? I want her to learn techniques in a creative environment, not in a factory setting. But I can't have my daughter telling a teacher that the activity is dumb - it's rude and, as a teacher, I can't let her think that is appropriate.

"Girlie, that's rude," I said firmly. Girlie meekly apologized. "Sometimes we have to do things we don't want to do," I continued. "This is the activity the teacher planned, and this is what you are going to do."

"Can I draw Fluttershy when I get home?" Girlie asked me.

"Of course," I said. "You just have to draw the horse the teacher picked out for class today."

So Girlie dutifully copied the horse Degas drew. And then we went home and she drew Fluttershy. Personally, I like Fluttershy better.