Coloring Inside the Lines

With my almost two year old grandson I color in a coloring book.  It has 4 chunky crayons and I stick with those.  It is a good starter coloring amount.  I color with him.  I like to color for one thing, and demonstrating and participating in a great method of teaching and learning.  I have noticed that he has a preference for coloring in blue.

I try to color in the traditional way.  You know the way I mean, within the lines.  With only four colors, red, yellow, blue, green, there isn't much chance for shading or varying the look of a coloring page.  My grandson scribbles, as would be expected and encouraged for such a young man.  He uses his right hand to handle the crayons, so this is a clue to his future.

The other day there was a curious action on my grandson's part while we were coloring.  As I neatly colored inside the lines, turning the drawing a selected color, my grandson scribbled around my work.  Then, he quickly indicated a desire to switch crayons with me.  So, as Grandma, I did trade with him and started coloring in the new color he had given me. Then he wanted to switch again.  And again.  It seemed that perhaps he was thinking that if he had the right crayon, his coloring would look like mine, filling up a space neatly. When it didn't work, he kept trying again.

Whether that was really what was happening or not, it did make me think of our materialistic culture.  I look to make my life better, sweeter, happier, prettier by trying some new thing.  The cosmetic aisles are full of stuff for that purpose.  If I could just try the right thing, my life would be better.  I would have it the way someone else does.  I would be able to color inside the lines, if I just had the right crayon.