Journaling and Reluctant Artists

Here's a question from a friend:

Q:  How on earth do you deal with a child who is afraid to try drawing a picture of something?  Consistently he balks at even making an attempt, because "I can't do it right."  This is just the kind of thing I think he needs, but we end up with tears (either his, mine, or both) when I ask him to either write it down, or draw it.  Do either of yours react that way ever?  How do you handle it?  

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A:  First, a little bit about my kids and where they’re coming from in this whole process:

My son is 6.  We started loosely journaling when he was probably five.  He is a very melancholy perfectionist.  He sketches (with shading, even) amazing pictures!  And his writing is incredibly legible for his age.  This is truly his area of giftedness.  For the most part, this is serving him well when it comes to journaling.  But when he messes up a drawing, he wants to throw away his whole book.  Tears, tears, tears!  (I insist on keeping the books intact so we can later see the growth and development.  It bothered him for awhile, but he’s okay with this now.  --  Most of the time.)  His concentration is incredible, as is his attention to details.  But he has his limits at times as well.  Once he half-heartedly and hastily scratched a minnow on his page when we were watching a beautiful bird, and then ran off to play.  Sometimes it’s more interesting to wade into that pond and catch stuff than it is to sit at pond’s edge and be reflective.  I’m learning to go with the flow, knowing that learning is still taking place.

My daughter is 9.  She started journaling at age 7.  She is totally sanguine-phlegmatic, and you can transparently see it in her book.  Her handwriting is, ahem, “creative”.  Her drawings are also reflective of her personality, and are few and far between.  They have forced out a lot of tears.  I accidentally discovered that she does much better if she has a picture to look at while drawing, so when possible, I just hand over the field guide that she uses as reference. She likes to copy my drawings as well, and that’s okay with me.  She prefers writing, so we go more with that, for her.  We started out with a lot of dictation.  Writing is not as laborious as it used to be, though, so I expect to see more interesting entries from her as time progresses.

For me, the idea behind nature journaling is not so much about getting that cool keepsake of drawings (although I confess I do like that), but about getting outside and enjoying and learning about God’s creation.  With that premise, is there any way besides drawing and writing that could get the excitement going?  Or ways to ease into the drawing and writing?  I think so.  Here are some things we’ve tried:

1. When the kids were smaller and not writing, they scribbled a picture on a piece of paper, and I wrote in the date and weather for them, and added a short description (following their dictation) about the picture.  As my son has gotten older, he has taken over the date and labeling, with me dictating the spelling, per his request.  I have written whole pages of stories for my kids as they have dictated them to me.  They love to go over them later and see their own thoughts written legibly in their book.
2. Instead of drawing, sometimes I take pictures of what we see.  I never get around to printing them, but if I did, these could also go in our journals.
3. As mentioned above, I let my son draw a quick minnow instead of that cool bird I really wanted him to draw.   He was more interested in catching critters, and the time to take in drawing a detailed bird just was NOT what he wanted to do.
4. I draw along side my kids, and let them copy my pictures if they want to.  (You could even let your kid trace over yours until they feel more comfortable drawing on their own.)  I think this is key.  I cannot expect them to go out and draw something without my participation as well.  Sometimes I want to cry at my own drawing.  (I even tore one out of my journal once, and my son is always throwing that back in my face.  I promise I won't do that again!)  Letting them see me work hard and not come up with perfection is very good in helping them learn that this is a struggle for most people.  But they also see my determination and my growth.  This is very motivating for them!
5. I try to do a lot of learning or just “fun” activities outdoors that don’t involve the writing or drawing.   Sometimes I ask them to tell me about what they saw or did or learned about.  Oral reports are good, even though they might not end up in the journal.
6. I take my journal with me many places.  I don't always have my kids take their's.  I think letting them see me doing this for enjoyment and as a normal part of life could only positively motivate them.  At first it was really hard for me to just get pencil to paper because I was afraid of making a big mess, and I didn't know where to begin.  My journal has been many places without proof of such due to intimidation factor.  But it is getting easier.  Sometimes when the kids have their's, I'll give them specifics; other times I let them choose what they want to do.  Feedback helps, when asked for, but otherwise I just let their work be their's.

I'm learning.  They're learning.