Finger Painting

Today Susanna and I attended a painting activity hosted by UW Family Housing. It was a wonderful activity. I think Susanna loved it, but I was surprised how inhibited-- mostly by her "gooey" hands and feet-- she seemed. The experience left me wondering if my efforts teach her to be clean, obedient, and well-mannered have stifled her creativity. Of course, Susanna's adult nature will not-- and should not-- be entirely up to me, and some of the inhibition she exhibited today may be due to that nature as well as how unfamiliar the activity may have seemed: we've never done an art project on this scale and she didn't really know many of the people there. And then there's the fact that I was not finger painting. Perhaps in this situation it was best that I didn't let loose-- the activity was for the children, after all. But certainly there are places in my life that I am stifled by my inhibitions, and she will sense some of that. So maybe it's something we have to figure out together. Maybe, in fact, it's Susanna who will teach me to let loose, and all I have to do is follow her lead. Maybe if I do that, we'll both grow up to be who we want to be.