09/11/2025
I am SO grateful my girls' school doesn't squash their creativity or uniqueness to conform or comply. We moved twice in the years before they were born, each time I insisted on staying in this catchment area. I knew any future kids we had would likely be ND, like their parents. I knew our local school supported ND kids well. Getting appropriate supports for your child shouldn't be a lottery. It shouldn't depend on where you live, who the principal is or what teacher they get each year. Education alongside their peers is a human right.
Story time.
A few years ago this kid of mine was pushed to shutdown by his year 1 teacher.
She grabbed me at pick up time and told me about it. Apparently he'd had a really great day up until the afternoon, had done good work, played well, been happy.
It got to art time.
The class had been instructed to colour in a green frog sitting on a lilipad.
My kid had been excited because amphibians and reptiles were his deep interest. He did the listening, he did the cutting out, he did the lilipad. He stayed at his desk. All of that would have been tricky for him.
Then he tried to colour his frog in red and his teacher said no- it had to be green.
He told her that he wanted to make a red frog, just like the Poison Dart frog from his book.
She told him no. It had to be green- but he could choose if he wanted a light or dark green.
This went on and on and on until my kid broke.
He was 6.
I am still. So. Angry. About. This.
I can feel the anger in my body as I type.
I asked the teacher why she couldn't just let him colour it red. It was art class. Why can't he create whatever he likes? Is art not about expression, creativity, and individuality?
She told me it was about compliance.
She said 'there are some things that he will just have to do.' I agreed. But this wasn't one of them.
He. Was. 6.
He did 98% of the task as she wanted.
He was engaged. He was so interested.
He was so excited.
That wasn't enough.
I pulled him out of school that week.
He couldn't pick up a pencil for a year.
He has only just now returned to drawing, 2 years later.
My heart still hurts from it.
I have a lot to say but honestly my anger is still too big to say it coherently.
I know that this is not every teacher or every school.
And at the same time, this is far too common.
It's so far from what our kids actually need.
It's all of the problems.
It's ridiculous adult garbage getting in the way of genuine connection, learning, and existence.
And we need to sort it out.
Here's a picture of my kid adding details to a hilarious, original, one of a kind, nonsense drawing. He also drew a spider with 16 legs. And I told him that was cool.
Em
