“Children aren’t coloring books.                                                                                                                      You don’t get to fill them in with your favorite colors.”                                                                                                                     Khaled Hosseini from “The Kite Runner”

Yes they are. Yes you do.

You’ve heard the saying that children are like sponges? Same thing.

Children ARE coloring books, sponges, and mini-“yous”.

While raising my children I experienced joys and sorrows, silliness and pain. I suffered over the loss of loved ones. I reacted with absolutely no self-control over a miniscule issue (or two. or more.). I laughed myself to tears, and a change of underwear, many times. I once threw a ceramic plate across the room into the wall. Often I experienced quiet happy moments. And raucous happy times. And when I could show self-control, I did. And during those times I worked very hard at being a positive person, trying to see the best in everyone. Trying to stay upbeat and phrase things in a positive manner. For example, asking the kids to keep the door shut when the air conditioner was on in the summer was to remind them that an open door meant a higher electric bill, which translated into Chuck E. Cheese money. So instead of shouting at them we would holler “Chuck E. Cheese!” They quickly remembered to shut the door!

I’m not saying we were perfect (see samples above) but we made an conscious effort to share positivity.

This is how I know that children get filled in with your favorite colors. Because I saw it happen.

I long suspected this was the case, and finally being able to put it into practice with children of my own allowed me to watch the theory in practice.

My kids are now mostly upbeat people who look for the best in those around them. They are each completely different, and came with their own special lines on the page, and I colored each of them in differently. They might tell you that the older I got the less I stayed in the lines. But that’s another discussion.

But I think that my attempts to color positivity, nurturing and love have worked.

I challenge others to create expectations of success and affection for their children, being mindful that we are only human, but each day is a new day full of colorful choices.

³⁵ A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. Matthew 12:35