Inspiration strikes a three-year-old mind

Part I: A monster with half spider legs, half tentacles

 

This is gonna be tricky to draw.

The sting has turned blue.

That means it’s a trap

And even stingy-er.

Now it’s purple,

Which means it’s too powerful.

 

This is the power of the rainbow.

 

Uh oh, you forgot about Bum Stinker.

He has a pointy head,

Armour,

And a cape.

 

I want a cape, Daddy.

Black side, please.

Like Darth Vader.

 

Part II: A ghost, in a flying saucer, in space

 

It’s too dark to see bats.

 

There was a man on the moon,

Then the moon went away

And space was all darkness.

 

At nursery today

The climbing frame had moved around.

Maybe it came alive?

Like a tree that walks in the night.

 

Plants do think, Daddy.

When the wind blows, they think of ice-cream.

 

Part III: Dinosaur footprints lead towards a giant trap

 

Then a big rock came

And the dinosaurs were dead forever.

 

Remember, I went on a bug hunt

And found a fang-toothed monkey?

It’s a bug, but with fangs,

And it looks like a monkey.

With spider legs.


And it’s hiding.

That’s not an ooh-ooh ah-ah noise!

It’s ooooh ooooh aaaah aaaah.

It might be a robot monkey.

I am half robot,

Half people.

–– Dougie Carson, aged 3 (with a little help from Daddy)

 

Inspiration strikes a three-year-old mind

By Dougie Carson (aged 3) and Nick Carson (aged 39)

 

Artwork titles:

Part 1: A monster with half spider legs, half tentacles

Part 2: A ghost, in a flying saucer, in space

Part 3: Dinosaur footprints lead towards a giant trap

 

Summary:

 

As anyone who’s ever tried to negotiate with a toddler will tell you, kids are hard work. They exhaust you; they infuriate you; they baffle you with their twisted logic and fickle ways. 

 

But they also inspire you every single day. 

 

For a three-year-old, the world triggers endless stream-of-consciousness journeys through the far reaches of space, to lands filled with stomping sharp-toothed dinosaurs and tentacled rainbow monsters.

 

Out of context, a small child’s painting is a hodgepodge of random splodges. But every stroke tells a story: listen, and you just might get a glimpse into their magical world.

 

For this project, I collaborated with my son Dougie – a cape-wearing mischief merchant who loves Darth Vader. The poem is all his own words, captured by Daddy while he paints, plays, and philosophises about the world.

 

Insta: @nj_carson | Twitter: @nickcarson

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