Process versus Product

Process versus Product

                As adults, we are concerned with the outcomes or the product of our efforts. We want the report to look nice, the cookies to taste great, or the hedges to be perfectly straight. We participate in very few activities just for the fun of doing them.

                In part this is because we are not still learning how to do most of these activities. But do you remember when you learned how to play tennis or golf? Or to use a new computer program? In the beginning you needed to do a certain amount of “messing around” kind of exploring what would happen if you did this or that.

                That is the way it is with your child. Children learn new things all the time, and they need the freedom to try things out without worrying about the end product.

Luckily, young children tend to be more involved with the process or the doing then they are with the end product or results. That is why your child may draw all afternoon yet still not be able to tell you what he drew. And why one child can pour rice back and forth between pitchers all day long, and another will string and un-string beads every day for a week. When your child comes racing up to you excitedly yelling “look, look, look what I did” it’s not necessarily the picture, painting or even a word. It is the process, the very basic movements, shapes, strokes, sounds, smells that we as adults take for granted every day because we forget that our knowledge can fill a bucket and theirs has yet to even produce tablespoon in the same bucket.

It is hard for us adults to look beyond the product of an activity and see what the child is learning from the process. Perhaps he is learning coordination or beginning writing skills or making discoveries about triangles or gravity. He’s certainly finding out that doing for one’s self is very satisfying—and that builds confidence.

Be patient. Allow your child the time to grow and learn through the various processes that are part of the task. Enjoy watching his or her involvement. Ask your child open ended question like Tell me about that? How did you do that? Encourage your child to keep exploring. Yes I know this process can be loud and yes it can be messy, ok it can be VERY messy but the memories and the fun and the joy you will see in you child’s eyes will be well worth it. I promise.  Later, we can all be proud of the product.

I was reading an article the other day from NAEYC titled Every Color on the Canvas  written by Megan Shedd and Rebecca L Coyner. In this article it goes on to explain how they went about using art to explore preschoolers' understanding of differences and how they use that difference. This is done initially without any direction, then with direction. When given direction there was a noticeable change, mainly in the fact that there was no longer any prejudice against color, gender, or type of art. This means that pink and purple were no longer girl colors and blue and green are no longer boy colors, girls can draw trucks and boys could draw families. Everyone can draw abstract, portrait or scenery and the children were excited about the process even more than the end result. If you want to read the article click the link below.  http://www.naeyc.org/yc/article/every_color_on_the_canvas

I guess that is why I like a good mess from all my little people, if there is a good mess then I know that they a really getting into it and really exploring everything they see and feel. They want to know what is going on around them and they want to really want to explore. This is not just a good thing it is a FABULOUS, WONDERFUL thing and exactly what I want. 

For the last week we have been working on Stained glass paintings, and a reproduction of Van Gough's "Starry Night"  painting. We are focusing more on process and the period of popularity rather than the end result, but we all know that the end result will be as beautiful as our little ones who made them.