DS (reception) teased by children in his class...

[saintpeta]

My son comes home occasionally with artwork from school that is not the same as the detailed stuff he does at home. Today I found out that the other kids tease him about the trains he draws....(which are fantastic for 4 years). So when he came home with scribbles today I obviously praised him for his art but then he just can't stop drawing the trains when we get home from school. I feel he is "dumbing down" to fit in with his peers....should i just leave it at that? or shall i have a word with his teacher (who already has the opinion that i am a pushy mum i'm sure...but i'm really not. just want him to be happy, secure and challenged properly. What i should do?

I would have a word with the teacher. About the fact that your ds is being teased. I wouldn't bring the level of his work into it (except just to explain what he is teased about). Teasing is wrong and should be stopped.

he's 4 and you are posting in G&T, you feel he is 'dumbing down', you feel the teacher feels you are a 'pushy mum'

do you not see any warning signs here at all?

Surely it all depends on what kind of art he's being asked to do? Maybe he's producing as good a piece of work as he is capable of, given the task. Not all artists are talented at all forms but it's nice at that age to have the freedom to experiment.

Talent is often nurtured at its own pace, not necessarily in school, but outside of school hours at home through parental support or through summer schools. And ime proper art teaching as a discreet subject by a specialist teacher happens at secondary unless we're talking precious independent who sometime have an artist in residence

I do sometimes wonder about the subjects that are posted in G&T tbh. We had one earlier where the problem clearly was that the Mum finds it difficult to afford pre-school childcare. Yet, because her son's reading skills are good, that ended up in G&T. And we often get topics about bullying in G&T when, quite frankly, children get bullied just as often for being slow-witted or fat or red-haired or for nothing much in particular.

I too have a G&T child but I don't think everything to do with her should go in the G&T topic ("dd who is G&T fell down the stairs today, should I take her to the doctor's").

Sorry, not meaning to take the piss, but if you mention your son's giftedness to the teacher when it is not actually relevant, then she will see you as pushy and it will get in the way of communication.

It really does not matter if his artistic talent is nurtured at school at this age or not; as Heated said, that is a matter for his secondary school. Until that day, pen and paper at home is all he needs. If he has the creative urge, he will create. And your pleasure in his talent will provide all the stimulation he needs.

But do by all means ask for help with the teasing.

Thanks for your comments -yes moopdaloop I understand what the perception is!! and so i posted here -he says he only wants to draw his trains at home i just don't like the fact that he may feel intimidated as he told me what the children say "look at his train, ner,ner ner...blah blah." I want the school to compliment what he does at home and vice versa - that is what the school encourages anyway. p.s. its piano that he has a real talent for and so i thought i could post here without fear of being judged!

saintpeta - I wouldn't let the drawing thing worry you. My 6-y-o DS also draws the most incredibly detailed pictures at home (filling up 4xA2 sheets sellotaped together) - all of cathedrals, pipe organs and textile mills (!) At school, his pictures are totally different, and not particularly exciting. But if he enjoys it at home, where he gets to spend all day doing it if he likes (well, it keeps him quiet...), then I'm not going to lose any sleep over what he does at school. If it's there, creativity will out in the end regardless of what the other children say!

(But if they really are teasing him, whatever the reason, I'd talk to the teacher. Though ime, they all tease one another about all kinds of stuff!)

Ok, reading your post this is my perception of your ds, which may be wrong.

Your ds is good at drawing TRAINS. My ds1 (age just 7, Y2) is good at drawing pirate ships and Captain Jack Sparrow and Buzz Lightyear. My ds1 is not 'gifted' at drawing, but he does love pirates of the caribbean and toy story and as a result has practised drawing them - he draws them all the time. This is great - he has written POTC books, illustrated them, which helps his writing skills, his fine motor skills, his perception of stories etc. If you asked him to draw anything else he would have a go, and it would be ok, but not as outstanding as his pirate ships and Buzz Lightyears.

However if at school he only drew these things, he might be laughed at - oh look, it's ANOTHER pirate ship. (In fact, he does draw them lots at school, but they are ALL into pirates...). A friend of his DID have the experience of being laughed at for ALWAYS drawing trains, and tried space rockets instead. And if a child is laughed at they might try something else.

So is it possible that your child ALWAYS drew trains, which he has practised lots and as a result are beyond the rest of his drawing skills, the children at school noticed and laughed, so he tried something else, which he can't draw yet, and it looks like scribble? Or the teacher asked them to draw 'a seaside' or 'a park' and because it isn't a train, it looks like scribble? In which case, the worst thing you can do is to say 'this is scribble' (I know you didn't, but ykwim). And also, it is not dumbing down - scribbling is a very important part of development - the feeling of the pencil across the paper, the movement and the resulting marks made.

Children can very often draw ONE thing very well - I don't think this means they are G&T, just that they like doing it and have done it lots!!! I really wouldn't speak to the teacher, because you don't know what they set out to do in the drawings you don't rate. And he does have to learn to draw things other than trains!

Ds1 interestingly is very good at the piano too!

thanks dottoressa & tortoiseshell you make a lot of sense I am going to let it go and not ask the teacher anything. and you know i do know about scribbling being important I just forgot. My god its good to get another perspective hooray for mumsnet !Thank you again