National Coloring Book Day

McKenna Snow
MSMU Class of 2023

(8/2022) Some people I know would probably laugh at the idea of coloring as an adult. "Isn’t that childish?", they ask, sure that it is something you must let go of to be a true adult. "Besides," they argue, "time you spend coloring as an adult is most certainly valuable time that could be put towards something more useful."

It is one thing to be childish, and another to be childlike. And sometimes, coloring is just what we need to remember the difference.

We get so very caught up in our industrial America with our work, our jobs, our to-do lists, that when our child, or in my case, my seven-year-old sister, asks me to color with her, the "natural" instinct is to respond with, "maybe later, right now I am quite busy." And perhaps most of the time, it is true. So many things demand our attention that to break to color a My Little Pony with a child seems like the biggest waste of time we could choose. They should learn how to color and be content on their own, right? They’ll be more self-sufficient that way.

August 2nd is National Coloring Book Day. It is a day that calls us back to consider what it means to be artistic, and why it is definitely not a waste of time to color with a child.

Children don’t see very far beyond the scope of their own home and their schools. To them, you, the parent, guardian, relative, babysitter, sibling, whomever—you are their whole world. They look up to you, see what kind of things you prioritize, and they want to imitate. Asking you to color with them is an invitation to share in the things that are priorities still in their young lives: exploring colors that go together and that clash. Seeing what happens when you stay inside the lines, or cross them. Bringing a picture they see in their head to life on a page. Expressing themselves on paper, and wanting to put it on the fridge for you to see. They are very intentional about what colors they choose for their pictures; they choose to color the truck blue instead of red, or to color the horse brown and white, instead of orange. Spending time coloring with them allows you to see their unique personality and preferences better, and helps build relationships.

Children take an interest in what colors you would choose for the horse or the fire truck. How you would draw the wheels, the barn, or the sun in the corner of the paper. They are even more excited, however, when you take an interest in how they did it, because these are the important things in their lives. When you say that you can color later—constantly—they begin, at an earlier age, realizing that work and iPhones are more important than things like coloring.

Do we want them to be exposed to such an industrial life so early? To let them see us suffocated by our jobs, our obligations, phone calls, news, and social media, and to set the example that this is what takes priority?

Coloring with a child, or even by yourself, is a rebellion against these lifestyles that allow no time for creativity, "wasting time," and relaxation. At the Mount, in the spring of 2021, I was put into quarantine when I had COVID. My older sister sent me a care package, and in it included a set of about 50 colored pencils, and an "adult coloring book," something that has become very popular in the past few years. The book was a happy collection of drawings of islands, countryside houses, bakeries, greenhouses, and coffee shops. Every picture had so much detail that to color one page would take a few days, but once it was fully colored, it was a kaleidoscope of beauty. There wasn’t much to do in quarantine, so I put that book to good use. I’ve taken the book with me to school for all the semesters since, along with all the colored pencils.

Do I use the book often? No, to be honest; I really do have very little time to do something like coloring. The reality is that busyness is extremely difficult to get away from. But that is all the more reason to try. At school, I try to leave the book and colored pencils around in a spot I can see them. It is a little reminder that I do need to have recreational and resting time that isn’t spent on my phone, or sleeping. Those modes of resting are fine, but as a human being, my eyes need breaks from screens, and it is a healthy thing for my brain to do something artistic every once and a while. There is something deeply restful about art, and it is a beautiful way to reclaim what the industrial world robs from us. It forces you to slow down, and to do something that takes time to accomplish, in a healthy way that a hundred instant movies on Disney+ can’t capture.

We shouldn’t act like art is only for poets, professionals, writers, and children. Art is a form of celebrating beauty, and is for all people, of all ages. God gave us colors, nature, and art, not as something to be secondary to work, but as something necessary to complement it. That is why beauty is both order and surprise, as Dr. John-Mark Miravalle of the Mount St. Mary’s Seminary puts it. If the world was all order, it would be mundane, unforgivingly cold, and about as full of life as four beige walls of an empty room. If the world was all surprise, it would be chaos; nothing would be predictable, consistent, or objectively true.

Beauty is the balance between these two extremes. It acknowledges the necessity of order, and celebrates the surprise and extraordinary of life. Coloring, therefore, is no childish thing; it is a reclaiming of beauty, and a rebellion against our demanding work lives. It reclaims the childlike wonder that allows for joy, curiosity, and artistry. Show children that spending time with them is important to you, and that coloring is a great way to waste time—since it really is not time wasted at all.