Do not Disturb! I'm Drawing. Michal Bogin Feinberg

in the child’s doodling process is parallel to his own emotional occurrences, and how these two processes influence one another. With this understanding, parents are able to perceive more, and in turn react with authenticity and enthusiasm from the very first lines that the child doodles. The child will perceive this appreciative, non-judgmental and accepting observation as a reflection of support, validation and enthusiasm for him and his work. This authentic enthusiasm will enable parents to enjoy the moment—the way the child is drawing right now, at his current stage of his development—instead of the way we would like to see him draw in the future, once he is able to draw a figure, a house or any other defined shape. The purpose of the child’s drawing is not to satisfy the needs of the observer. The observing parent is welcome to join and accompany the child joyfully, hand in hand, travelling along the lines that are marked and created in the current moment.

      This is a wonderful way for the parents to give their child a validation and make him feel appreciated and wanted. Therefore, the child will develop the motivation and ability to continue to create. These are valuable gifts for a meaningful life.

Chapter Two

      “Scribbling,” drawing and self-esteem—how do they relate?

      When I asked an acquaintance for a drawing by her two and a half year old, her response was: “But these are only scribbles.”

      Is that so? Are scribbles really only scribbles?

      The term “doodling,” which is a more professional name for scribbling, carries a very important meaning. It represents the beginning of the creative process, expresses the child’s own emotional development, and exposes their inner echoes, as the famous artist Wassily Kandinsky once said.

      Doodling reflects situations in life. The more joyful and spontaneous the child’s doodle, the more his ability to translate his feelings and his thoughts will increase, and the correlation between his inner and external worlds will grow accordingly. Doodling enables one to express a relationship with the environment. It’s a vital form of expression and an incredible way to express emotions and the vitality and the richness of one’s inner world, even before the appearance of words. If one can understand the meaning of a doodle, one can also appreciate and value every line in it. In constructing such appreciation, respect for the child also deepens and he feels more understood. That way, his self-esteem will be increased, he will feel freer to express himself, more valued for who and what he is, and he will have more courage to explore and experiment. That way, he can continue to doodle and draw joyfully, and lay the groundwork for his own uniqueness.

      Why are visual imagery, doodles, drawing and an encouraging reaction so important?

      They enable us to experiment and provide us with a space for us to explore the question: “Who am I?” They enable us to feel happiness, fun, satisfaction and calmness. Through this process, the child is granted with a space where he can get to know his own abilities.

      Drawings and doodles also allow us to express ourselves more freely, which gives us courage and confidence, and also an ability to rely on ourselves and build an independent identity. These are tools which contribute to the construction of high self-esteem.

      In addition to that, doodling and drawing also open up a new, alternative space where we can grab a seat, observe and also be observed. It’s a place for us to express a variety of emotions; it’s a bridge between the internal and external world; a tool which helps us to know and enrich our world of imagination as well as our real, tangible world.

      Drawing and doodling help us to improve the way we plan and organize, and also to improve our ability to persist and dedicate ourselves to one thing. They are wonderful tools which help us develop our ability to imagine and symbolize. They also improve the skills of expression and interpersonal communication, which is often a means of bringing parents (and other important figures in the child’s life) closer together with their children.

      So, to the mothers who ask me, “Why doesn’t my child draw?” or “Why’s the paper on which he’s supposed to draw in kindergarten always blank?” I usually explain:

      Doodling and drawing are processes that can occur naturally and intuitively in any place and in any way. The toddler may doodle on the beach or during playtime, or while eating porridge.

      Children who “do not draw” have come to me for therapy more than once, and have begun to love and enjoy drawing. How did this happen? I didn’t do much. I “simply” listened to the drawing with no expectations and with great enjoyment in what the child brought. And it worked. The child began to draw happily and lovingly.

      So why do children sometimes abstain from drawing on paper? Expectations. Drawing on paper might promote a greater expectation for results, expectations that the child receives from his environment, and influence his ability to produce results on the grounds of “performance anxiety.” It’s not unlikely that the same child, if he’d grown up in the jungle, or in any other place where the expectation for immediate results had not spoiled his toddler’s natural tendencies, then he would have been able to draw freely.

      It is true that not all children are equal in their ability to draw and control their doodle. Children may demonstrate greater or lesser control, and some may even have development disorders, motor problems or attention deficit disorders (such disorders should be looked into), but what about love for the play itself? For creating for the sake of pure fun? In this book, we won’t deal with the differences in children’s abilities, but rather with the love for the play and the possibilities of creation, which are so important for the development of each and every one of us. Much like Erno Stern ,the pioneer of creative education says; the act of painting is an integral part of our needs as human beings—and it is an act that can be done by anyone and grants us incredible joy.

Chapter Three

      The drawing, the “me” and the soul of the child:

      changing and evolving together

      In order to deepen the understanding and interest in children’s drawings, starting from the doodling stage, I will describe the development in children’s drawings and how this process is parallel to the child’s emotional growth. I will also focus on the changes which occur in drawings of children aged approximately one-and-a-half, once the child starts to draw shapes. I will try to explain the huge influence these two parallel processes have on the child’s emotional world.

      Motor development, starting from the doodles, reflects the child’s process of emotional development, during which a sense of consistency, method and cohesion is formed within him – one which binds and collects his different experiences together. A sense of awareness of the existence of a separate self also begins to form within him, along with the construction of his own identity.

      The French author, George Perec, wrote in his book, Species of Spaces and Other Pieces, that in order to transfer from the personal realm of the self, into the public realm that pertains to the “other,” one is in need of a password, and simply cannot slide from one sphere to another. In order to do so, according to Perec, he would need to first cross the threshold, to communicate.

      The doodling progresses into drawings with clear shapes that can be perceived as a “portrayal of one’s soul”, an illustration portraying the emotional development that is occurring simultaneously.

      In the beginning of the process, the act is instinctive and it involves several different senses. There are many different undefined directions in the first doodles. It appears that the child draws as a way of exploring and playing solely for himself. As his drawings progress, his shapes become clearer and clearer—with separate lines for example—and demonstrate the construction of his identity as a separate self, and forming stability. The formation of a “sense of self” as a process of letting go of the illusion of the child’s oneness with his mother is also a formation of the idea that there exists such a thing as an “other.”

      Later on, with the existence of such an “other,” the child realizes rather quickly that he is being observed, and the way in which he is being observed will begin to have an influence on him. The relationship with the “other” progresses and