Actually, I have no way of knowing how old this fellow is. He’s just some anonymous complainer on a complaint board set up so as to allow ranters to rant in peace. But something tells me that, when he’s not hitting nails on heads w/r/t raising children, he’s holding the Venetian blinds apart with two meaty fingers and yelling “GET OFFA MY LAWN!” I love him anyway; we shall grow old together, in matching lawn chairs and Bermuda shorts, crankily waving our canes at any child who unplugs from the electric teat long enough to step foot on OUR LAWN!

From the Seattle Times:

Rant “To the couple pushing a toddler in a stroller around Green Lake on Aug. 13. Your little boy was watching a DVD on his lap, complete with headphones for easy listening. Are you kidding me? Your child does not need an activity to keep him occupied while on a walk; the walk is the activity! If your child can’t go for 60 minutes without watching TV, you have a big problem. Whatever happened to watching the scenery and talking about what you see? Please, at least give him a book to look at instead.”

The Munchkin is an almost-six-year old who definitely has a mind of his own.

And that mind has no problem letting people, including his teacher, know that he doesn’t like coloring.

He can draw until the pencil or crayon is down to a nub, or until the marker practically runs out of ink.  But coloring? Inside the lines? Madness! It is beneath him! To him, it is gruntwork, pure and simple. 

Unfortunately for him, it seems that kindergarten teachers can be sticklers when it comes to coloring pictures.  Especially when coloring the picture is part of the assignment, not just for prettification.  You know, like coloring in all the triangles red, and all the squares blue.

So, coloring outside the lines is verboten.  Ditto with leaving some white in there.  They prefer that the item in question be properly and completely shaded.  Which, I guess if you are going to do it, you might as well do it right.

But didn’t I hear a while back that children were supposed to be encouraged to color outside the lines?  That insisting they color inside the lines stifled their individuality and creativity?  Say no to conformity, kids, anything goes!

Er, except that particular philosophy is not embraced at the Munchkin’s current school.

I understand that coloring is a fine motor skill.  And perhaps it comes down to committing to doing a task and doing it properly, even if you don’t find it a pleasant pastime.  Still, there is a part of me that is secretly annoyed at the notes about his lack of coloring finesse that are penned on his worksheets.

The amazing and confusing thing is that I have to sit here and beat it into him that he is to color inside the lines, when adults who have the ability to “think outside the lines” are lauded.

Maybe I should have homeschooled.