My Family by Grant

"My Family"
by Grant Behringer

Our kids seem to come home with endless amounts of artwork projects. Some good, some great and some go straight from back pack to the recycle bin. But every so often we come across one that is just priceless. This was one of those times.

Who knew Grant was an artist? I didn't. Don didn't. We knew he could scribble and draw a few random things ("oh!!!! THAT is a car... NOW I see it....") but I've never drawn people with Grant before (not even a smiley face) so we didn't expect this! I was so surprised and delighted to find this in his work folder. His teacher was even surprised - most of the other kids leaned more toward abstract art than realism. And he did it all by himself.

Woven through my joy however was a strand of guilt. I started questioning..."Have I really never drawn a person with my son before? How can he be three years old and I haven't done that yet??"

I am fully aware of the statistics and realities of younger children not getting as much attention as the first child...especially those of us with high-maintenance first children. And while this may bring guilt to many of us multi-children parents, maybe it's not all so bad. I seem to find myself so presently surprised by some of Grant's accomplishments whereas with Olivia, I (honestly) sort of expect it.

So, this piece of artwork entitled "My Family" by the up and coming artist Grant Behringer has inspired me in two ways: to make sure we are giving equal attention to our second child and to maybe lay off of the first one a bit.