Writing with Juliet Iwelunmor

Noontime or nighttime, at any hour in between, one of them doodles away, with no noise, no sound, no distractions, nothing at all.

Then slowly, like the first drop of rain, something emerges. A lake’s song, earth day, getting wise on words, will bring eyes full of peace.

As the whole scene plays out, in a kitchen unaccustomed to ease, I try my best to dwell on the gifts of their minds. But as always, words fail me.

So I stood and looked at their use of “by” next to their names. The world will never know how children see themselves. Not just watch or stream how others see them, but how they see themselves first for themselves.

I begin to explain, but since they didn’t asked, I am leaving this here for today and tomorrow. Keep all the ways children see themselves. The way you see them too.

For the past few months, my middle son has been struggling to focus in school. Fourth grade they say can be tough with long multiplications and divisions that my son would rather day dream about things not related to school. At first I was angry and made a point to remind him to focus every single day. Yet day in and day out, the same report. He is not focusing. So while in Nigeria last month, I shared this same issue with a fellow mother and she recommended art and the wonders it has done for her daughter with similar needs. So armed with all the information, I bought all the art things I could lay my hands on everywhere. We began doing and making art soon afterwards and the other kids and I truly got into it. Yet this one son barely sat through it. He would rather do something else and so I felt once again defeated until yesterday. Right after dinner, he shows me what he has being making when I wasn’t bothering him to come do art. A book. Granted it’s from a show he watched awhile back, but he made a storyline with it, stapled the edges and showed me his book. I was amazed. Kids see themselves just as they do. The focus thing also clicked to me too. When he doesn’t know or doesn’t like anything, he would rather take the time to day dream about things he loves. Like space or earth. You also can’t force art into him. He is art and when it’s time he will amaze. The naming, the art, the dreaming, all of it is what I am holding on to these days. Keep, keep all the ways children see themselves. Brilliant, bold, and bright, is the light within. And when they name themselves first for themselves, wow…