My answer is no, and the reason is that I never got in trouble for making art. That is not to say that I was not troublesome. I was always allowed creative expressiveness. I have memories from my early childhood that include drawing and using pencils and crayons. I always had paper and never had an urge to mark on walls. From about eighteen months of age, my mother made it a practice to teach me something new every morning. I could identify colors at two and read at four. Her approach to my learning gave me a visual intelligence before I could communicate verbally. I credit her with the development of visualization in my brain. I will never forget the morning that I had to learn how to tie my shoes before I could go outside to play. I was four and it seemed like an eternity but it was probably no more than twenty minutes. I could identify shapes when my vocabulary consisted of a few words such as dada and mama. The family had one car, a maroon 1947 Studebaker. Whenever I saw a Studebaker, I said dada. I was not looking at the color, it was the shape. My mother said I never mistook a different make of automobile of the same color. They traded for a new blue 1951 Chevrolet when I was two years old. That was traded for a new apple green 1952 Studebaker when I was three. I still have memories of the Chevrolet. We took a trip to California in the Chevy and my grandparents went with us. I vividly remember the trip. Papa shared potato chips with me and Granny shared Dr. Pepper. At that time the highway over the west Texas terrain went down in every gully and yellow diamond sign warned of “Dip” before each one. Papa read every sign out loud. When I started to school, my mother took a job outside the home and a new two tone blue and white 1956 Chevy joined the green Studebaker. My mother taught me to cook, sew and play basketball. She could always beat me at all three.
Today is my grandson’s second birthday. I gave him an easel with a white board on one side, pencils, washable markers and finger paint. Hopefully, he will not get into trouble with his artistic endevors.