DD is almost 4. She loves to draw and has recently been into coloring in pictures that I've downloaded online. She's often praised for her art skills (at home and at preschool). She enjoys it and I love encouraging her. Now that's a little older (and can understand) I try to direct my praise on to specifics, like "I really like the color of her hair" or "you did a good job coloring inside the lines".

Tonight, she went on with her routine: coloring, then showing me her work. As a mom, everything she draws is like a Picasso work of art to me, but tonight was a little different. The first few pieces she colored in, she took her time and it showed. Around the fifth picture, she basically just scribbled a color on top of the whole picture (it took 2 seconds) and promptly showed it to me and asked if I liked it.

Without thinking, I said, "No, I don't." She looked shocked and I realized I may have been too harsh and tried to explain that I like the ones where she took more time to color it in and not just scribble on the picture (and showed her an example that she gave me previously). She took the scribbled picture and sat on her desk looking like she's about to cry!

It occurred to me that maybe she's not old enough to understand this concept yet. This is uncharted territory for me. Out of curiosity, how do you react in this situation? Do you say you like it? Do you say you like it, but ... ?

Btw, she never started crying. After sulking for a few minutes, she went on to color the picture more carefully and returned to me.