Art Schmart!

Here's the question of the day: Why are children so much more capable when their own parent is not around? Or when one parent has been trying for ages to teach something to said child and then they are suddenly, completely and totally adept at said new talent with "new" parent running to "teaching" parent all excited about what they have "taught?" Okay, so the second question was more of a frustrated reference to an incident a few months back concerning my monkey child, a bicycle, on-coming traffic, lots of screaming... I degress, again. The initial question is a reference to Kaleb, aka "Mouth," and painting, coloring, or any art activity what-so-ever. I have come to cherish deeply the finger painted, multi-colored works of art that he brings home from pre-school. So much so, that I have hung non-mutilated pieces (I'll get to that point in a moment) in our living room. Partially, this is parental pride. But I must point out that the art that Jonathan, aka "Peanut," has created and I have framed, is hung in the playroom or in his bedroom. So why is Mouth's in the living room? Do I prefer one child over the other? Is one child "better?" No. If it's possible, our issues go even deeper than that. I hope and pray that Mouth will see these stellar examples of art with "a purpose" and be inspired to create new pieces like it. Am I being pushy? A little demanding? Competitive? You bet your butt I am. However, if you saw the "blobs" that he creates at home, you too, would wonder if he even created the projects from pre-school. Another source of my frustation is that half of his creations don't even make it home. Despite my efforts to hold onto all art work from door to door, he still manages to rip, shred, fold, turn into a paper airplane and set sail out the back seat window, or write a "shopping list" on a large percentage of paper that tries to make it's way home. It's frustrating. How I will homeschool this child is beyond me. It's a good thing God know's what He's doing, because I certainly don't. Such is life...