Art Therapy

The recent and upcoming transitions that our whole family has undergone (a move across the country and back again, a new baby, some family strife, etc...) have taken their toll on the whole family and, most noticeably, on our daughter. She has recently begun experiencing tremendous rage and it has been manifesting itself in some pretty problematic ways.

We have been working with her on ways to express her emotions. I recently got her this book at a garage sale. Harvey has proven more interested in it than she is though. We have also been using this to talk about Mama, Papa, and Baby bear's emotions, and how they impact each other.

Yesterday, our friend, an Art Therapist, suggested that I have Norah paint rocks different colors--one for every emotion that she might feel.

We are storing them in a bowl right now, but we plan to put them in a special place of hers. Maybe these will keep help to keep her grounded. In general, I do find that giving children an outlet to express themselves creatively is liberating. Surprisingly liberating. If I keep my mouth closed while they are painting on plain white paper, for example, it is amazing the images, and the names for them, that they create. A few days ago, Norah was drawing small dots all over her paper, "These are song circles, Mama," she says. Song circles?! Wow, if only we could all access this kind of energy regularly. What a healthy place we would live in.