Colors Speak Volumes

Parents, did you know that when your children make a free drawing, you can gain insight into their inner world? The interpretation of the drawing is never conclusive, it is not totally reliable but it can be a very useful tool to know the child's moods. If they use a certain color very often, this is when color speaks.

When children draw, they live it as a game, in the drawing kids capture many of their experiences or delicate moments that they may be going through, worries that may be seizing them, which can be many in these times of pandemic. A drawing gives us clues about their emotional state and is of great value as a tool for an educational psychologist or child psychologist to diagnose since we are the expert specialists to interpret the meaning of color in the drawing. However, it is good to say that this type of interpretations does not constitute a scientific method and it is conformed to suppose errors of perception since in the evaluation of the drawing many factors come into play like the age, the form of the strokes, the size of the objects or people that are drawn, its location in the space, emotional state, etc.

Parents, if your children use a variety of colors when painting, they are characterized by being cheerful, motivated, interested in doing things, very expressive, and self-confident. On the contrary, having a great variety of options and only using one or two colors could give us indications of insecurity in what the kids do, even in painting, expressing a lack of self-confidence.

When painting with lively and warm colors we are dealing with extroverted and enthusiastic children. When the children are irritable, they tend to mix colors, they color one on top of the other, making almost unrecognizable what they draw. A fearful child does not like to color. If the strokes are soft they infer tranquility, while if they draw with strong strokes, it can be indicative of intense feelings, even aggressiveness. How many children in these times of pandemic are drawing with mixing colors, one on top of the other, with strong strokes?

Drawing is another way to learn more about children, their personality characteristics, their feelings, and how they relate to their environment, as it helps the development of their learning, their creativity and it is a way to express their emotions. As I mentioned before, it is a tool for a diagnosis performed by an educational psychologist or child psychologist, experts in the area. But as a parent, when you observe your child drawing, you can look at how he or she does it and ask yourself the question: does the kid use intense colors or pastel tones? does the child use a variety of colors? or, does the child only concentrate on one or two colors? It is important to observe the drawings as it is an excellent tool to know the child's inner world.

Parents should not be the ones to analyze the drawings, but as a curiosity, would you like to know what the use of certain colors can tell us? There are many colors available to children, I only give you a reference of some of them, below:

From unsplash

Green: it is a quiet child, very sensitive, but if you give green color to things that are not green tranquility can be transformed into the opposite, as it may be a state of rebellion or a maladjusted child.

Yellow: generally they are children who manifest to be cheerful and very sociable. But if used excessively, the drawing may be indicating tensions in their environment or family conflicts.

Red: it is frequently used by children in free drawings, with moderation it tells us of a child of great energy and very passionate, but if the color red is in excess it can suggest certain imbalance, aggressiveness, and hostility. Especially if only red is used together with black.

Pink: it is not an exclusive color for girls. It is also used by boys. When they use pink more than any other color, they are dreamers or it is a sign of creativity. They live in imaginary worlds. It may indicate a need to escape from reality.

Brown: is the color most used by responsible and prudent children. When they use it in excess we can infer that the child could be overwhelmed by responsibilities not appropriate for his age.

Black: these are perfectionist children, a little introverted, and tend to be distant with other children. If they use it only with red, it is time to take precautions and investigate the reasons for using these two colors in the drawing.

Violet: we are facing a child dominated by melancholy, if he uses it excessively and frequently, we must take foresight because it tells us about the child's vital dissatisfaction, it infers that he feels dissatisfied with his life, with what he is, or what he has.

Some suggestions to take into consideration when your child expresses himself with his drawing:

1.- If your child draws ugly, it doesn't matter, keep the drawing. Keep it in a place where you can keep track of the different moments when they were drawn. They will serve as a reference to observe the tendency or preference of colors of your child and the emotional state when he/she drew it. As parents, it helps a lot to know that.

2.-Enjoy with your children the activity of drawing, share with them that moment, and take the opportunity to ask them questions about what they draw, why they draw what they draw, and how they feel when they do it. In those moments, you can get to know some aspects of your child that you surely didn't know before...

3.- And last suggestion my friend reader, enjoy with your children the time of drawing... live it with them!