I think I’ve used this title for a blog post before. And I will probably use it again. After all – I have three daughters, all with red hair, and whose baby pictures are, at least to me, indistinguishable from one another except for the digital date stamp.
When Charlotte first started to show some interest in colouring, she had no care, whatsoever, for staying inside the lines. It just wasn’t her thing. She scribbled. And she pretty much still does. She just can’t be bothered with the lines. To her, they aren’t even a guide. She moves her crayons and markers across the page in big broad strokes not worrying about where the colour lands. And its a peculiar quality in her, because she has a deep deep sense of order. If there ever was a rule abider, it was her. She is highly attuned to the rules and expectations of the world. Wants to know how things work so that she can be onside. Wants to make sure that everyone else is onside as well. Just doesn’t give a hoot for the lines when she is colouring.
Ruby, on the other hand, is extremely particular about staying inside the lines. When she colours, she uses tiny little meticulous stokes with the marker or pencil crayon to ensure that she is precisely inside the lines. And this is a peculiar quality in her, because, when it comes to the real world, she could care less about staying inside the lines. She is a rule breaker. She tests every boundry you can put in front of her. And she does it all with a smile. But when it comes to colouring – she stays inside the line. Of course, she has also drawn on the bathroom wall with nail polish, on the basement door with some unknown substance, and, just today, on her bed, with a marker. So I guess if she doesn’t see lines, its no holds barred. But when it comes to colouring, she’s your girl.
3 Ginger Snaps 