Why does a child draw without hands? Test: What does your child draw?

off topic... I’m reading about topics, who draws how and why. And I remember how I drew myself... Why does the fence around the house mean that it is closed... but there was nothing to do, I sat and thought about what else to draw... the smoke from the chimney also appeared exactly like that, the curtains on the windows too. When drawing a family, someone could have turned out very big or small, but simply because I didn’t calculate it, it didn’t fit on the page... I didn’t draw the hands because it’s difficult to draw, you’ll draw it and it’s not beautiful... it’s better to put them behind your back... .When I read books about how children’s drawings say a lot.... God, I thought that they would think about me when they saw my drawings... From my drawings you can say that my childhood was terrible and I had a lot of problems and complexes, ahem... and all because I drew this squiggle... but I was guided by rather banal things... The desire to embellish and regret that I finished drawing, but I want to draw something else... or simply the lack of ability to draw and, as a result, the reluctance to detail some moments....

Doesn’t anyone have the feeling that what is written about these techniques in the drawings does not correspond to the real thing... didn’t you really draw a handle on the door to the house because you are a private person... or did you draw curtains on the windows because you are secretive? I see a lot of problems in myself that could be read in my drawings: banal decoration and inability to draw.

And I’ll add about the colors.... sometimes I chose the colors of the pencils - simply because they were sharpened better... and that’s it... the bright ones were sharpened faster... and accordingly there was a period of drawing with dark pencils... And a psychologist, looking at it in time space, would say about- oo! The girl has obvious problems and depression during this period... 02/08/2005 14:38:18, Shtuchkina Masha

“I didn’t draw hands because it’s hard to draw, you’ll draw it and it’s not beautiful” - and why is it important for a given child that EVERYTHING is beautiful, while for most children it’s important that a person has EVERYTHING (that is, the presence of arms, legs and ears, it doesn’t matter , did it turn out beautifully or not)?
“The bright ones wore off faster...and accordingly there was a period of drawing with dark pencils” - again, why does this reb prefer to draw with dark colors instead of sharpening his favorite light ones? I (and most of the children I know) didn’t like to draw with dark ones, I sharpened my favorite ones, asked my parents to buy a new box of pencils - felt-tip pens (I remember I could not draw for a week or two, because there was no red felt-tip pen, it always ran out first)
That is, a too abstruse approach to the interpretation of drawings is too much, but denying this science as such is also too much. 02/08/2005 18:03:20,

I completely agree with the last paragraph, this is exactly what I wanted to convey... there is a theory and it really works, but sometimes excessive dripping leads to false impressions... if you want, you can find anything in the drawing.
By the way, by the way, I ran out of yellow first %)... I didn’t sharpen it because I didn’t know how, and adults were sometimes busy at the moment when I felt the urge to create, you can say that with these dark colors I poured out my grief about the yellow pencil %))))) ))))))))) 02/08/2005 18:59:23, Shtuchkina Masha

Drawing for a child is not art, but speech. Drawing makes it possible to express what, due to age restrictions, he cannot express in words. In the process of drawing, the rational goes into the background, prohibitions and restrictions recede. At this moment the child is absolutely free. A child's drawing most often clearly demonstrates the area of ​​interest of the youngest artist. In the early stages of development (up to three years) these are dashes, lines, circles. The child “tests” a pencil or brush and experiments. Usually he first makes a drawing, and then comes up with what he depicted, what This it might be similar. Later (by the age of four) appears concept of the drawing. From a certain age (3.5 – 4 years), a person becomes the object of close attention and study. From the point of view of psychodiagnostics, a person’s drawing is one of the most accurate and reliable sources of information. The only difficulty is that the information contained in such a message is figuratively “encoded”, and the drawing must be “read” correctly. Psychologists who use drawing techniques in their work must have sufficient qualifications and experience working with children. However, attentive parents can always notice something unusual in a child’s creative work, sense his mood, and sense hidden tension. Therefore, as “first aid”, we offer several lessons on analyzing a child’s drawing.

The child should be asked to draw his family. Moreover, so that everyone is busy with some kind of activity. Let him have a selection of colored pencils and enough paper - a regular landscape sheet (A4 format) will do just fine. Do not rush your child or comment on his drawing during the drawing process. And when he finishes the family portrait, it’s time to ask questions: who exactly did he paint and what are all these characters doing? When starting to analyze a drawing, adults should take into account that its content and, relatively speaking, quality depend on the age of the young artist. In three-year-old children, people most often look like “cephalopods”: certain creatures whose body and head are a single “bubble” with legs. A face may also appear. But, strictly speaking, It will be more accurate to analyze a drawing from the point of view of personal development and psycho-emotional state from the age of 4-5. By the age of four, a child usually already depicts a person in the form of two ovals with arms and legs - sticks. In the drawings of five-year-old children, the head, eyes, torso, arms, and legs appear. At six years of age, the nose, mouth, and fingers are added to the above (their number is not significant). By the age of seven, “painters” no longer lose sight of such details of the human image as the neck, hair (or hat), clothing (at least in schematic form), and depict arms and legs with double lines. Typically, these criteria are used when assessing a child’s mental development.

Particular attention is paid to the analysis of the structure of the family picture. It is necessary to compare its real composition with that depicted by the child on paper. You should also evaluate the order of drawing, the size of the figures and their location on the sheet. The first and largest, as a rule, is depicted the most significant family member in the understanding of the young artist. Children usually draw themselves next to those to whom they feel the greatest affection. And farthest away in the picture is the child’s most unsympathetic relative. The image in profile or from the back also indicates a tense relationship between this family member and the author of the drawing. Children live by momentary experiences. And often an emotional relationship with someone close (a recent quarrel, resentment) can make adjustments to the drawing. In this case, the baby may even “forget” someone. For example, 6-year-old Alyosha does not draw his father, who pays little attention to him and is rude. And his absence in the picture is explained by the fact that “dad went on a business trip.” Alisa (4 years old) did not draw her little sister Ksyusha, explaining her absence by saying that the baby was “sleeping in another room.” The girl cannot come to terms with the fact that her mother does not pay as much attention to her as before because of her sister. The opposite situations also occur, when the child depicts in the drawing really non-existent family members. Sasha (5 years old) surprised his mother a lot when he drew a picture of a baby playing next to him and announced that he finally had a brother! Such “adjustments” to the composition of the family are made by children who are dissatisfied with their emotional situation. They need more friendly attention from adults and games “on equal terms”, or better yet, entertainment in the company of other similar kids. What family members are doing also plays an important role when analyzing a child’s drawing. If they are united by some common cause, most often this indicates a favorable family climate. Very significant an indicator of psychological closeness is the real distance between the depicted figures. By drawing himself separately from others, a child can “signal” his isolation in the family. If he separates his family from each other with partitions or places them in different “rooms,” this may indicate problems in communication. The size of the image indicates the place this person occupies in the emotional life of the family. For example, if a child draws a younger brother or sister larger than himself, then we can assume exceptional attention to him from his loved ones. He "occupies a lot of space in their lives." The absence of the smallest artist in the drawing is a frequent sign that the child feels lonely in the family and has “no place” in relationships between loved ones. You can check this by asking your child the question: “Perhaps you forgot to draw someone?” It happens that a child ignores even a direct instruction: “you forgot to draw yourself” or explains: “there is no space left,” “I’ll finish drawing it later.” This situation is a serious reason to think about family relationships. A very dense image of figures, as if overlapping each other, speaks of equally close relationships between people close to the baby or his need for such connections.

A fairly common sign of increased anxiety in a child is self-correction. Especially those that do not lead to improved image quality. There are drawings made from individual small strokes - the child seems to be afraid to draw a decisive line. Sometimes the entire drawing or some of its parts is hatched. In such cases, one can also assume increased anxiety in the young artist. It is worth paying attention to the exaggeratedly large eyes in the portrait, especially if their pupils are densely shaded. Perhaps the baby is experiencing a feeling of fear. Numerous decorations, the presence of additional details and elements of the costume from the author of the drawing indicate the child’s demonstrativeness, his desire to be noticed, and his craving for external effects. This is more common in girls. Very weak pencil pressure, low (not for age) detail pattern is found in children who are asthenic, prone to fatigue, emotionally sensitive, and psychologically unstable. And children, whose mood changes easily, for no apparent reason, usually often change the pressure during the drawing process: some lines are barely noticeable, others are drawn with noticeable effort. Impulsive kids often do not complete the lines or, conversely, draw in a sweeping manner, which is why their drawings give the impression of being careless and uncontrolled. Here, strong pressure and gross violations of symmetry attract attention. Sometimes the drawing “does not fit” on the sheet. There are drawings where everything the figures are depicted very small. Usually the entire composition is oriented towards some edge of the sheet. This means that the baby feels weak and does not believe in his own strength. Perhaps one of his relatives is very strict with him or the requirements for the child do not correspond to his real capabilities. If baby depicts himself in an open pose(arms and legs are widely spaced, the figure is large, often round), this indicates his sociability and cheerfulness. On the contrary, a “closed” pose (arms pressed to the body or hidden behind the back, elongated, angular figure) rather indicates a closed person who tends to restrain his feelings and thoughts. Both in the drawings of boys and in the drawings of girls one can often notice symbols of aggressive tendencies behavior: large accented fists, weapons, intimidating pose, clearly drawn nails and teeth. Despite the apparent hostility, they can be an expression of defensive behavior. Adults should figure out what is a source of increased emotional danger for their child, and why he needed such a demonstration of his strength. A special place is occupied drawings that violate accepted image standards. In particular, the image of the genitals. For young children (under 4 years old) this is rather a common occurrence. This reflects the tendency towards naturalness of life in all its manifestations. For older preschoolers, such a drawing speaks of demonstrativeness, a desire to attract attention in a provocative way, and serves as an expression of aggression.

Children very early begin to “feel” color and select it according to their mood and attitude. Dr. Max Lüscher, a psychologist and color researcher, studied different people's color choices. He came to the conclusion that the choice of color reflects the psychological qualities of a person and his state of health. Number of colors the child uses can be viewed from several perspectives. First of all, this is a characteristic of the level of development of the emotional sphere as a whole. Usually children use 5-6 colors. In this case, we can talk about a normal average level of emotional development. A wider palette of colors suggests a sensitive nature, rich in emotions. If a child over 3-4 years old draws with 1-2 colored pencils, this most likely indicates his negative state at the moment: anxiety (blue), aggression (red), depression (black). Using only a simple pencil (if there is a choice) is sometimes interpreted as a “lack” of color, thus the child “reports” that there is a lack of bright colors and positive emotions in his life. The most emotionally significant figures are highlighted with a large number of colors. And openly rejected characters are usually drawn in black or dark brown. Colors can also convey certain character traits and states. Each color has its own symbolic meaning :

• Navy blue– concentration, focus on internal problems, need for peace and satisfaction, introspection;
• green– balance, independence, perseverance, stubbornness, desire for security;
• red– willpower, eccentricity, outward focus, aggression, increased activity, excitability;
• yellow– positive emotions, spontaneity, curiosity, optimism;
• violet– fantasy, intuition, emotional and intellectual immaturity (children often prefer this color);
• brown– sensory support of sensations, slowness, physical discomfort, often negative emotions;
• black– depression, protest, destruction, urgent need for change;
• grey– “lack” of color, indifference, detachment, desire to leave, not to notice what is disturbing.

So, the kid spent a few minutes over a sheet of paper with pencils in his hands, and the picture is ready. How much that is important for him and for his parents is hidden in this drawing! Let's try to read it? Here the child has depicted himself, but the pose is unstable and there is no face. How to communicate without a face? - Difficult! Here is the baby in the crib, lying down to rest. Perhaps he was tired. Or maybe he's sick? And the color I chose was brown. Yes, that’s right – temperature! Why do all the girls draw princesses? This is exactly how they feel or...really want it. Just to be in the center of attention, to be the most... And what is the demand for a princess? Here is a boy, armed to the teeth. He needs protection. Maybe someone offended him.

Age criterion The child’s behavior contains features characteristic of an earlier age; the emotional-volitional sphere is characterized by immaturity. All characters in the picture are depicted in the same way. Clothing, with its inherent details, is missing. Hairstyle acts as a symbolic sign of gender. The characteristic absence of a neck in the depicted people in this case indicates the difficulty of controlling the mind over bodily impulses, that is, Alyosha’s behavior is characterized by high mobility, and at times, disinhibition and impulsiveness. Emotional characteristics The drawing is bright, light, cheerful, orderly, rather friendly. Features of the family image The family in the picture is shown in its entirety. In the center of the composition is dad as an important subject in the domestic hierarchy. We can assume with reasonable confidence that mother is physically and emotionally closer to Alyosha. The pairs formed are noteworthy: mother - son (the youngest in the family), father - daughter. Sister Lena is the furthest from the author of the drawing. Probably, not everything is going well in their relationship. It is significant that of all the family members, only dad “stands firmly on the ground.” The rest are floating, a little “in the clouds.” In general, we can talk about fairly warm and close relationships between family members. This is evidenced by the small distance between them, the choice of a common color and the image in the same color scheme of a house with smoke from a chimney, symbolizing the “warmth of the family hearth.” "Manner of writing" All lines of the drawing are made with confident, decisive movements. It is probably this style of behavior that is most characteristic of Alyosha. But strong pressure and accentuated shading of the boy’s body speak of internal restlessness, anxiety, perhaps physical (literally bodily) malaise. The hairstyle reveals an active, sometimes perhaps aggressive, nature. An interesting detail is the peculiar antennas (according to Alyosha), which in the picture “grow” from the boy’s ears. They symbolize the need for information to compensate for difficulties in communication (the child in the image does not have a face). The poses of all the characters are open, their figures are round, which suggests cheerful, sociable people. In the case of Alyosha, this apparent contradiction may mean: “I want to communicate, play, but they don’t always understand me.” Palette The color scheme of the picture is very symbolic. The little artist chose the signal red color for all family members, especially for himself. This indicates an outward orientation, sociability, and increased activity of the author of the drawing. Additional green emphasizes the desire for independence and the desire to insist on one's own as a habitual way of behavior. An important detail of the drawing is the clearly drawn surface of the earth. If Alyosha spent a lot of time on her image, this is probably something important to him. In this case, we can consider the earth as a need for support, greater stability and stability. The goal of analyzing a drawing is always to gain a deeper understanding of the child, look at the family through his or her eyes, and identify paths to positive change. In this case, I would like to recommend to Alyosha’s parents that they pay more attention to deep, confidential communication with their son, talk to him more often just like that, and ask his opinion on various issues. They should also consider what is the difficulty of contact between son and daughter. And active recreation and outdoor games can significantly reduce emotional and physical stress.

Age criterion This pattern is more typical for six-year-old children. We can say that the boy is developing intellectually ahead of his age. Emotional characteristics The drawing is bright, dynamic, but restless. Features of the family image. The family is depicted in its entirety. Noteworthy is the sexual identification of the young author with his father (see clothes). However, emotionally the child is still closer to his mother, which is typical for a preschooler. It’s interesting that the boy doesn’t seem to have enough space in the drawing; he’s unsteady on his feet. His position is unstable and changeable. Palette The child chose the color purple for himself, which, combined with his insecure position in the family (this was mentioned above), indicates possible psycho-emotional instability and frequent mood swings. For mom, the little artist chose an energetic, somewhat chaotic, yellow color. Dad is brown. In his image, attention is concentrated on the physical body. This is how a child sees his parents. "Manner of writing" The figures are large, angular - most likely, in the child’s communication there is some straightforwardness and a tendency to conflict (sharp corners). Noticeable shading and clearly drawn pupils suggest the presence of hidden anxiety.

The drawing is bright, rich, energetic, well organized. It is quite consistent with the artist's age. The family structure is divided into “adult” and “children” groups. The younger brother and sister strive to be emotionally and physically closer to Petya. Probably the family has psychologically close, equal relationships. Mom is the most vivid, emotional image. The child identifies the image of the mother with the help of color and draws it first. Petya portrays himself as an adult. The arms are somewhat shortened compared to other images. This is usually found in the drawings of children who consider themselves insufficiently skilled and are critical of their practical skills and capabilities. The sun and flowers are very often found in children's drawings. It is worth paying attention if their appearance is unjustified by the situation. For example, the sun appears in a drawing of a room. Then we talk about the need for warmer relationships in the family. In Petya’s drawing, these symbols most likely indicate a positive attitude towards his family.

Often children draw arbitrarily, without a special task or request: “I’m drawing a girl like me.” In this case, we observe a somewhat idealized child’s idea of ​​himself. Let's pay attention to Polina's drawing. It is located at the top of the leaf, quite large and bright. We can talk about the child’s positive self-esteem, activity, and emotionality. The girl is probably distinguished by high self-control, developed intelligence, and sociability. But she lacks stability (note the accentuated drawn line of the ground and the child’s small legs). From a psychological point of view, we are talking about self-doubt. This usually happens in a family where one child is being raised: he is given, as paradoxical as it may sound, too much attention, every step is controlled and directed. Thus, the child is deprived of the opportunity to somehow demonstrate independence. Gradually getting used to this situation, the child is afraid to take the wrong step and waits for “valuable instructions.” Maybe Polina should sometimes make her own mistakes and learn from them?

The drawing is dynamic, bright, somewhat chaotic. The emotional center of the family is undoubtedly the mother: warmth (the sun), the child, and the dog are concentrated around her. Her dress is decorated with a pattern. Please note that Sasha portrays herself as equal to adults and only her legs do not reach the ground. The girl's character is probably combative, impulsive, and boyish. The lines of the drawing are sweeping, with strong pressure, suggesting a low level of self-control. For such children, games with simple rules and involving several players are useful. Active sports will also teach you to better understand yourself and relate your desires to the interests of the team.

A completely unusual drawing for a 4.5 year old child. The cephalopods immediately turned into mature drawings. This is especially true for images of adults. Undoubtedly, this is a drawing of a very observant, developed and at the same time anxious child. Abundant shading, density, tightness of the image, and emphasized eyes indicate the presence of anxiety. The most prominent and significant figure is the pope. Pay attention to how the shading of clothing varies among family members. Dad’s is in a strictly defined direction, his suit is official. Probably in life, dad is a very organized, business person. The figures in the figure are depicted very tightly. This may indicate an equally close relationship in reality. But our main character seems to need more physical and psychological space for an active life. At first glance, it may seem that analyzing children's drawings is not such a difficult task. However, I would like to warn parents against harsh formulations and making a psychological diagnosis. Indeed, behind the apparent simplicity and elegance of the method there are many nuances, interconnections of individual manifestations and features. In addition, the person analyzing the drawing views it through the prism of his personal experience and state at a given moment in time. Therefore, you should not draw far-reaching conclusions on your own. And if something in the child’s drawing alarms or puzzles the parents, it is better not to postpone a visit to a specialist. Let him help you figure it out!

Drawing is one of children's favorite activities. From the drawings you can see how the child sees the world, how he feels about himself, what worries him, who he loves.

Children's drawings are especially valuable material in cases where you need to find out whether the child has any problems - fears, anxiety, aggressiveness.

Here are a few basic rules to learn.

1. Drawings of children under five years of age are poorly informative due to the fact that the fingers are still poorly developed and the drawings are sketchy. At this age, one can only guess certain features of the baby based on the color scheme. If black predominates, this indicates aggression. Red means activity, and brown signals possible ill health.

2. It is important to understand that a drawing is always a reflection of the child’s momentary mood. Therefore, it is impossible to judge his character from just one drawing. You should always look at general trends, having at least 5-6 samples made at different times. And ideally, if you want to make a psychological portrait of your baby, choose a time when he is in a good mood and ask him to draw .

3. If you give your child a task to draw something on a given topic, do not interfere with the process. The task itself should be given in the most general form - for example, draw a tree (house, person) of whatever kind you want. Don't suggest that a person has ears and you forgot to draw them. Try to be nearby, but pretend that you are minding your own business. And watch for yourself at this time.

Your observation and patience are the key to success, which will allow you to understand the hidden characteristics, fears, doubts and character traits of your child.

4. For test drawing, it is better to offer the child pencils - they allow you to see the force of pressure.

5. Even if all the child’s drawings speak of internal negativity, do not be afraid. Perhaps the baby is going through a difficult period now. In any case, a drawing is not a diagnosis, but a reason to think about what is happening in the soul of a little man. If you find it difficult to understand the causes of children's problems yourself, consult a psychologist.

So, you asked to draw person, house, tree, family .

And after the drawing is completed, the first step in the analysis may be your first superficial impression, you should evaluate what your child’s drawing is like, how it reflects reality, the child’s mood.

Look at the color your child used. According to psychologists, color determines the child’s inner mood, his emotional sphere.

A child chooses a simple pencil and refuses color altogether, this indicates a rather low intellectual level. Sometimes refusal of color is motivated by a bad mood, but, as a rule, this does not happen often. A child who uses dark colors is most likely at a low level of general development, has underdeveloped abstract thinking, and has memory problems.

The child uses the standard color for the depicted object, this indicates a normal level of his intellectual and general development. The baby adequately perceives surrounding objects and people around.

If, when depicting a given object, your child uses non-standard colors or colors that do not correspond to certain parts of the given object, this indicates non-standard thinking, a highly developed imagination.

Human

As a rule, if a child is asked to draw a person, it will be a person of his gender. The drawing of an asexual being or a person of the opposite sex indicates internal discord. If the figure is located in the center, this is a sign of a confident person. At the very bottom of the sheet (with 2/3 of the space at the top empty) children who have low self-esteem draw a person. A figure depicted in profile can indicate anxiety and problems with communication.

Each part of the drawn person means something.

The head is a symbol of intelligence. A large head indicates developed mental abilities, a small one indicates insufficient mental abilities for his age. If a child needs protection, he will definitely draw a headdress.

The face will tell about the sociability of the baby. Fuzzy facial features mean that the child is “closed” towards other people. Drawn ears are a sign that hearing is an important channel for the child’s perception of information, that he listens to the comments of other people. Aggressive children draw an open mouth with teeth. Very large eyes with pupils symbolize the child's fears.

Large long arms show that the baby is dexterous and physically developed. Small hands will be drawn by a weak child. If he is unsure of himself, he will hide the hands of the little man in the picture behind his back or in his pockets. Raised hands indicate aggression, wide arms indicate a desire to act.

Legs are a symbol of support in real life. If a child has a great desire to be independent, he will draw very long legs. Widely spaced legs signify the baby's self-confidence.

Boys usually draw an angular or square body - this is a sign of masculinity. If a person's torso is disproportionately small, this means that the child feels humiliated.

House

If a child often draws a house without windows and doors, this indicates problems in communicating with other people and isolation. The smaller the window, the more shy the baby is. Sometimes the number of windows corresponds to the number of family members.

Tree

A large tree in the picture means that the child has great vital energy. The branches of the tree are directed upward, and the tree itself has a thick trunk and stands firmly on the ground (even the roots are drawn) - in front of you is a self-confident, cheerful child.

More details:

The trunk symbolizes the child’s inner core, his personal potential.

Base extended to the left - the child is a dreamy introvert, timid, indecisive, and does not show initiative.

The trunk is straight, regular in shape - the child has difficulty adapting, but it is easily restored. The general development of such a child is at a fairly high level.

The base extended to the right means that the child is characterized by prudence, prudence, and perseverance. He ignores other people's opinions and is not inclined to trust recognized authorities.

A trunk closed at the top speaks of vitality and impulsiveness. The child is not prone to abstract thinking and is diligent in his work.

Rounded and widened base - the child is slow, thorough, but somewhat inhibited. At the same time, he has such undoubted advantages as responsibility and reliability.

The pointed trunk is usually drawn by the smallest ones, in whom it is difficult to identify the constituent parts of the personality.

The contour lines, the filling of the trunk, indicate certain character traits of the child drawing.

Weak, uneven, dotted lines speak of an enthusiastic, uneven, impatient and impulsive character, which is how an intuitive, sensual and vulnerable child usually draws.

Hatching and scribbles inside the trunk indicate uncertainty, dissatisfaction and spiritual fragility of the baby.

Reproduction of the bark pattern is a good sign - a sign of observation, critical mind, inquisitiveness, possibly a good sense of humor and fairly high intellectual development.

Specks and spots inside the trunk are evidence of dissatisfaction and feelings of guilt, and perhaps that the child is going through a difficult period of development.

The wavy outlines in the picture mean liveliness, flexibility, a tendency to adapt, and a positive attitude of your baby.

The branches can tell about the child’s relationship with the outside world.

Branches drawn in parallel lines express constancy, positivity, and activity.

Lines of branches diverging towards the ends - expansion, adventurism, high self-esteem, desire to assert oneself.

Radiant branches indicate nervousness, hot temper, lack of self-determination, and the wandering in search of his “I” in the young artist.

If your child has highlighted one branch in the picture, this indicates his ability to improvise, be creative, and think outside the box, rejecting conventions.

Curved branches - susceptibility to the influence of others. The child who drew a tree with such branches loves games and fun activities, but it is difficult to force him to do what seems tedious and boring to him.

Branches hanging down depict ordinary dreamers, melancholic people.

Bend branches - restraint, humility, responsibility, discipline.

Branches pointing upward - practicality, hot temper, and a tendency towards adventurism.

The crown tells you what the baby’s energy characteristics and capabilities are.

If a child draws a tree crown in the form of a cloud, this indicates his characteristic caution, thoroughness, and high level of self-control.

The crown-corolla testifies to the prudence and diplomacy of the young artist.

Crown circle – calmness, self-sufficiency, egocentrism.

Children, who are characterized by dynamism, absent-mindedness, a sense of humor, and cheerfulness, usually draw a crown with curls.

Crown with scribbles or shaded - disorder, anxiety, tension, indecisiveness, impulsiveness, susceptibility to other people's influence.

Flat crown – depression, dependence, desire to lean on someone.

Children often do not draw tree roots because they are not visible.

My family

Children usually draw the most significant person in their lives first. The larger a person’s figure, the greater the authority he is for the baby. A child lovingly decorates such a person and pays attention to details.

If a child does not draw a picture of one of the family members, it means that he is unpleasant to him and quarrels often occur with him. A sign of reluctance is a small, sketchy figure.

If all family members hold hands, the family is friendly.

Everyone does their own thing - the family is divided.

If there are objects between people that separate them, this indicates problems in communication.

People involved in the game are a reflection of the rivalry in the family.

Raised hands of someone in the picture indicate aggression or a need for help.

Very often, children draw an imaginary family: a dad who does not live with them, a sister who is not there, a deceased relative, or even a stranger. This means that the child experiences discomfort in his family and wants to change it.

If a child draws himself the same size or even larger than adults, this indicates that he feels significant and unique.

The baby is not in the picture at all when he feels out of place in his family.

The attitude towards family members can be judged by the force of pressure. The baby will draw an unpleasant person with sharp, strong strokes, and will often erase the drawing. The baby draws his loved ones with smooth movements, decorates them in every possible way, chooses pastel or bright rich colors.

In order for you to look deeper into the soul of your child and understand how he lives, what he breathes, what he thinks about, what he dreams about while in the family, if you do not have the opportunity to consult with the right specialist, conduct with him one of the adapted We have special options for parents - a version of the drawing technique “My Family”, which reveals intra-family interpersonal relationships.

Give your child a piece of paper and a set of colored pencils (black, blue, brown, red, yellow, green). Since this test is adapted for parents and will not be assessed by a specialist, a set of pencils may contain not 6 colors, but much more.

Invite your child to draw a picture of your family. After that, do something, pretending that you are not interested in drawing. Let him feel at least the illusion of freedom. Your gaze involuntarily forces your son or daughter to “weigh” everything in the drawing in your favor. Let the painter be alone with himself. However, while “working”, you need to observe, unnoticed by the child, how he draws, what he draws, where he draws.

After finishing drawing, clarify some details with leading questions. Then analyze the data from the drawing test according to the diagram below. And if you learn to correctly interpret this data, you will be able not only to identify the nuances, but also their shades, the whole gamut of feelings experienced by a child in his family. All that he carefully hides, all that he hides somewhere in the depths and is unable to express to you out loud, all that “seethes” and “boils” in him, all that torments and worries him every day, suddenly unexpectedly, like a genie from a bottle, it “breaks out” and freezes with a “silent scream” on paper. And, freezing, silently screaming, he begs you for help. And this “cry” should be heard by each parent. After all, it would hardly occur to us, parents, that very often we are the culprits of all the child’s troubles.

When analyzing a drawing, you need to pay attention to a number of details: the sequence of completing the task, the plot of the drawing, how family members are located, how they are grouped, the degree of proximity and degree of distance between them, the location of the child among them, the who he begins to draw as a family, who he ends up with, who he “forgot” to depict, who he “added,” who is taller and who is shorter, who is dressed how, who is drawn as an outline, who is drawn to the details, the color scheme, etc.

Let us dwell on some features of the analysis of the drawing.

1. Sequence of task completion. As a rule, after receiving the installation, he immediately begins to draw all the family members and only then the details that complement the drawing. If suddenly an artist, for some unknown reason, focuses his attention on anything except his family, “forgetting” to draw his relatives and himself, or paints people after depicting secondary objects and objects, you need to think about why he does this and what lies behind all this. What is the reason for his indifference to his loved ones? Why is he delaying the time of depicting them? Most often, the “casket” is opened by leading questions and clarifying shades of family relationships, and other techniques. As a rule, the absence of family members in the drawing or the delay in depicting them is one of the symptoms of a child’s mental discomfort in the family and a sign of conflicting family relationships in which the artist is also involved.

2. The plot of the drawing. Most often the plot is extremely simple. The child depicts his family in the form of a group photo, in which all family members are present or some are absent. Everyone present are on the ground, standing on the floor, or, for some reason, having lost support, hanging in the air. Sometimes in the picture, in addition to people, flowers bloom, grass turns green, bushes and trees grow. Some place their loved ones in their own home among furniture and familiar things. It is not uncommon for someone to be at home and someone to be outside. In addition to frozen, monumental group portraits, there are also drawings in which all family members are busy with business and, of course, the most important thing -. These drawings are usually full of expression and dynamism.

As mentioned above, sometimes they simply refuse to draw or limit themselves to some, especially abstract plot that seems at first glance, where there is no family (see Fig. 1 below). But this is only at first glance. A drawing of a family “without a family” - a child’s cry of protest and the distress signal he thus sends - SOS. In the drawing we offer, a ten-year-old girl, jealous of her relatives for the younger children in the family, hid all family members in the house behind thick walls. She placed herself, like Carlson, somewhere on the roof (a detailed interpretation of the drawing will be given below). When yours draws a picture of a family “without a family,” drop what you’re doing and solve the charade. Think about it - why? Build bridges. Otherwise, you may “miss” something significant in your child and lose the “key” to him.

If a child associates a drawing of a family with something pleasant, with warm, tender memories, it illuminates all family members or some of them with a bright sun - a symbol of affection, kindness and love. If there are dark clouds or rain pouring over a group portrait of a family, then most likely this is due to the child’s discomfort.

3. The sequence of arrangement of family members. Usually the first one depicts either his most beloved family member, or, in his opinion, the most significant and authoritative in the house. If he considers himself the most significant, he, without hiding it, draws his figure first. The sequence of arrangement of other family members and their serial numbers indicate the child’s attitude towards them, or rather, their role in the family in the eyes of the child or their attitude, in the opinion of the person drawing, towards him. The higher the serial number of the depicted family member, the lower his authority with the child. Usually the most recently drawn relative has the lowest authority. Therefore, if he intuitively feels rejected and unwanted by his parents, then he portrays himself after everyone else.

4. Dimensions of the figures of family members. The more authoritative the family member he portrays is in the child’s eyes, the taller his figure and the larger his size. Quite often, young children do not even have enough paper to place the entire figure in its entirety. When a relative's authority is low, his figure is, as a rule, much smaller in reality compared to other family members. Therefore, the neglected and rejected usually portray themselves as barely noticeable, short, tiny Thumb Thumbs or Thumbelina (see Figure 2 below), emphasizing with all this their uselessness and insignificance. In contrast to the “rejected”, the family idols spare no space for depicting their figures, depicting themselves on a par with mom or dad and even above them (see Figure 3 below).

5. The amount of space and its dimensions between the images of individual family members indicate either their emotional separation or their emotional closeness. The further the figures are located from each other, the greater their emotional disconnection, which, as a rule, reflects a conflict situation in the family. Some drawings emphasize the perceived disconnection of loved ones by including some extraneous objects in the free space between family members that further separate people. To reduce disunity, he often fills the gaps, in his opinion, with things and objects that unite close relatives, or draws among family members unfamiliar people.

With emotional closeness, all relatives in the family are drawn almost close to each other and practically not separated. The closer he portrays himself to any family member, the higher his degree of attachment to this relative. The further one is from a family member, the less affection one has for that member. When he considers himself rejected, he is separated by a significant space from others.

6. The location of the child in the picture is a source of important information about his position in the family. When he is in the center, between mom and dad, or sees himself as the first head of the family, this means that he feels needed and needed in the house. As a rule, he places himself next to the one to whom he is most attached. If we see in the picture that he depicted himself after all his brothers and sisters, away from his parents, then this is most often just a sign of his jealousy towards other children living in the family, towards his beloved mother or father, or maybe both together, and, distancing himself from everyone else, the artist tells us that he considers himself superfluous and unnecessary in the house.

7. When for some reason you suddenly “forget” to draw yourself, look for a good reason in your family relationships. They are usually not entirely exemplary and, obviously, are painful for the child. A child’s image of a family without himself is a signal of conflict between him and someone in your home or the family as a whole, and the child therefore has no sense of community with other people close to him. With his drawing in this way, the artist expresses his reaction of protest against the rejection of him in the family. Intuitively guessing that he has long been rejected by you, that you have almost “forgotten” him, caring about others in the family, he “takes revenge” on you on paper, not realizing that by refusing to draw himself, he is giving away his secrets, involuntarily spilling out the discomfort bubbling within him .

8. When for some reason he suddenly “forgets” to draw one of his parents or other real members of his family, then, most likely, it is none other, but the “forgotten” relative of the child who is the source of his discomfort, worries and torment. By deliberately “forgetting” to include such a loved one in your family, it seems to show us the way out of a conflict situation and to defuse a negative family atmosphere. Quite often, in this way, the artist “eliminates” competitors, trying to extinguish, at least for a moment, the jealousy simmering in him towards other children or towards parents of the same sex. He especially stubbornly “takes revenge” and does not draw on paper that family member who constantly suppresses and humiliates him in the house. Therefore, usually the question: “Where is this family member?” -, continuing to “take revenge” on him, responds with sheer fables, absurdities and absurdities, such as the fact that this relative takes out the trash, washes the floor, stands in the corner.. In short, in this way, albeit naively, he dreams of taking revenge, although would mentally humiliate a loved one who constantly humiliates him in reality every day.

9. When for some reason he suddenly “supplements” his family with non-existent relatives or strangers, then he is trying to fill the vacuum in feelings not received in the family, or use them instead of a buffer that softens the feeling of his inferiority in the circle of relatives. They often fill this vacuum with those individuals who, in their opinion, are able to establish close contacts with them and enable them to somehow satisfy their communication needs. Therefore, by “modeling” the composition of his family, he involuntarily offers us its improved, improved version, chosen by him and not by anyone else.

In addition to strangers, the artist often “supplements” his family with the animal world: we see birds, animals, but most of all cats and dogs that are loyal and necessary to people. And if in these “additions” there is no identification with a real member of the child’s family, and if cats and dogs... are simply imaginary, the artist does not actually have them, but he dreams that they would exist and replace his relatives and friends, then this means that he longs to be needed by someone. From birth he needs to be loved and to love someone dearly in return. And if you have not satisfied him with your love, then he intuitively looks for love on the side. Therefore, think more seriously about the purpose of your man, who seems to be deprived of nothing, stubbornly every time in all the drawings of his family he stamps the ghosts of cats and dogs that do not exist and do not live in the house, which even you did not promise to buy for him. Think seriously. And regard this as a symptom that tells you about the lack of necessary communication and the lack of tenderness and affection that yours feels. Think about it: are you to blame for this shortage?

10. When for some reason he draws only himself instead of his family, “forgetting” to draw everyone else, this most often indicates that he does not feel like a full-fledged member of his family and feels that there is simply not enough room for him in it.

Quite often, in drawings of oneself, the child’s rejection by family members is visible through the emotional background and gloomy color scheme. The loneliness of a rejected person at an age when they are not yet able to cope without their parents is a formidable sign of a dysfunctional family situation for your child. Sometimes an artist, when depicting a family, specifically highlights only one himself in order to emphasize his importance to the rest. This is most often done by family idols or those who do not hide their egocentrism. This type differs from rejected ones by involuntary self-admiration, which is usually visible in the coloring and detailing of clothing or in secondary background objects that create a festive mood.

11. To conduct a more detailed analysis, take a closer look at how faces and other parts of the body are drawn. The head drawing is especially informative. When you see that the author for some reason omits parts of the face known to him in the drawing or generally depicts a face “without a face”, that is, apart from the contour of the face, there is nothing on it (no eyes, no mouth, no nose...), then this is most often an expression of the artist’s protest against in relation to the family member depicted by him in this way, because of whom, obviously, he is constantly filled with negative emotions.

When an artist depicts his face like this, a face without eyes, without a mouth, without a nose, then this is a sign of his alienation in the family and a breakdown in communication with many people.

When, of all the parts of the face, only one eye is visible in the drawing, then, most likely, you are aware that this family member is constantly watching and watching him, not allowing any of his misdeeds, childish pranks and pampering. And this relative “I see everything” is the source of most conflict situations for the child. Similar may be the drawing of the close “I hear everything”, in which the author is absorbed in the image of ears exceeding the size of Cheburashka’s ears. When, of all the parts, only the mouth stands out, then, most likely, the “owner of the mouth,” like a press, puts pressure on the artist, “educating” him with endless notations, moral teachings within the framework of his own morality, and cultivates fear in him.

When you see that in a drawing the artist focuses most of his attention on the head and thoroughly draws out all parts of the face, preferring the face to everything else, then, most obviously, he once again shows you how significant the closest relative he depicted in this way is for him. And if yours portrays himself this way, then this is simply self-admiration or one of the signs indicating how seriously he is concerned about his appearance. Often in this way the artist brightens up his own physical “defect”. And if a girl paints her face this way, then most often she simply imitates her mother, who, out of coquetry, constantly touches up her lips, powders her nose, and smoothes her hair in front of her eyes.

In addition to the head, drawn hands can also give you more information. When their length is immediately noticeable, then most likely they belong to one of the close family members of the child who is aggressive towards him. The author sometimes depicts such a relative without any hands at all, trying, at least symbolically, to extinguish aggression.

When we see the child himself armless in the drawing, then, most likely, in this way the artist wants to inform us that he is completely powerless and has no right to vote in the family.

When in a drawing he emphasizes the length of his own hands, not strangers, or draws them raised upward, then he shows his aggressiveness or his desire to be aggressive in order to somehow establish himself in the family.

12. The color scheme of the drawing is a kind of indicator of the palette of feelings emitted by the child when remembering the loved ones whom he portrays. The features and nuances of the emotional attitude of children to individual members of their family or to the family as a whole, the romance of their affections and carefully hidden dislike, doubts, anxieties and hopes seem to be “coded” in the color with which each character is painted. And you, parents, need to find the cipher to the code in order to come to the aid in time, generously extending your whole hand to your child, who is desperately clutching at a thin straw, who for one reason or another has wilted under the pressure of harsh everyday life and everyday troubles.

As a rule, everything that a child loves and likes is drawn by him in warm, affectionate colors. Without knowing it themselves, they “stick out” their affection and romantic feelings for someone present in the picture with a bright, rich color that involuntarily attracts your gaze. Usually, the one the child likes is dressed up in a special festive outfit, which in its colors resembles a rainbow or the clothes of a fairy-tale princess seen in a magical dream.

And even if yours does not use the entire gamut of colors available to him, he still, whether he wants it or not, distinguishes his beloved relative from all the others with at least one extraordinary stroke that catches your eye.

Mothers are especially dressed up. They express their love for them by designing such fantastic clothing models for them, the patents for which fashion magazines would probably buy from them. In addition to dresses, skirts, blouses with ruffles, embroidery, flounces, many mothers have earrings in their ears, beads on their necks and hairpins in their hair. Almost all mothers wear fashionable shoes and have unusual hairstyles. And if you look closely at the color of their hair, you will most often say: this doesn’t happen - since when is the hair orange, yellow and even blue. This doesn’t happen in life, but it happens in a drawing, when in a flood of tender feelings that spill out in this way.

Beloved dads also have something to wear. And very often their outfits are almost as good as their mother’s. The child also brightly dresses up all the other relatives he cares about, drawing the smallest details of their clothes. When a child feels good in the family, he is also festively dressed and radiates warm colors.

The cold tones depicted by the child are like the red color at a traffic light, signaling “stop”. Stop for a moment. Think about it
Means. Ask yourself mentally: "Why?"

Cold tones, as a rule, are evidence of a conflicting relationship between a child and a member of his family drawn by him in these tones. Particularly informative is the color black, the usual black color, which most often carries information about the child’s emotional rejection of the relative in the drawing whom he depicted for them. And this rejection can be obvious or hidden. In addition to color, a number of other details will tell you about obvious rejection. You will have to guess what is hidden, unraveling the labyrinths of the child’s feelings. And if for some reason a relative whom he loves is suddenly painted black, then, most likely, in this way the painter involuntarily spills onto paper everything that secretly worries, excites, torments him in relation to the member of his family he depicts. And no matter how much in these cases the artist tries to assure you that he painted from memory, almost from life, and his father really has a favorite shirt - “black”, and his mother also prefers “black” to all colors, and his sister really the braids are “black”, you need to carefully check and understand the reason for its “realism”. Especially when in the same picture other relatives are fabulously dressed and their hair is fabulously colored.

As a rule, the reason for realism is that, no matter how much he adores mom or dad, he cannot and is not able to come to terms with the fact that dad drinks, is rowdy, is a source of scandals, and mom, busy with endless affairs, does not notices the child's devoted love. My sister just makes me jealous. What if she gets more tenderness and affection...

A signal of distress and trouble for your child can also be his contour drawing of individual members of his family or the entire family as a whole, even when the artist depicts the contours in different colors and not with a simple pencil.

So, analyzing the features of the interpretation of the drawing “My Family”, it was as if you recognized your child again and realized that yours is a personality, albeit still small and unintelligent, but a personality looking at the world with his own clear eyes, having his own special angle on life. And you should be aware of this point of view. Otherwise, it will suddenly turn out that you and yours see everything differently and with different eyes and often speak different languages. And in order for your language to be unified, you need to know its symbolism for your child, at least in a drawing.

Let's look again at what means, details, and nuances the artist uses to tell you about his role in his own family and about the relationships that have developed in it between other family members.

1. A child's emotional attachment to one of the parents is usually portrayed as being close to or next to that parent. The amount of space between them is minimal. Often their hands are stretched out to each other, emphasizing the complete agreement between the parent and the child who adores him. Almost always, the artist tries to draw his beloved parent as one of the first in the drawing. The figure of this parent is usually taller than all other figures, or at least exceeds the height of the child, thereby, as it were, giving the young artist a unique, understandable only to him, security necessary for life. To make the parent look even more impressive, they often place him on a specially invented pedestal. The parent, adored by the child, is not only carefully outlined by him, but also dressed in the most magical outfits, which in terms of the brightness of the colors are much brighter than the brightest clothes of the artist. There are times when the outfit of an artist and his best mother in the world or the most beautiful father in the world are identical. During the period of first romantic love for their parents, girls usually picture themselves next to their dads, and boys - closer to their mothers. During the period when a child imitates parents of the same sex, this pattern changes and girls are already close to their mothers, and boys are close to their fathers. Moreover, the parent, adored by the child, is not drawn with contours and strokes, but is drawn out literally down to the details.

When for some reason, suddenly picturing yourself next to your adored parent, you involuntarily leave an empty gap between this “row,” then, most likely, this gap is a reflection of a barrier invisible to us between two loving people. Most often, this barrier is the character traits of the parent, which repel the child and force the young artist to maintain a certain distance, like being on a leash, when communicating with the parent.

He usually expresses his dissatisfaction with black or at least one gloomy stroke. Take a look at the drawing of a teenage girl (see Figure 4 below). Here, the black color of the beloved dad’s trousers indicates the child’s worries about the fact that dad began to drink alcohol.

When a child's affection is mutual, he is happy, reaching all the heights of bliss.

When a child's love is unrequited, it is an imperishable source of mental discomfort for the young artist. Therefore, by analyzing the drawing and “unraveling” who the child needs most, you try to take a step towards him. Let him feel how needed he is.

2. Rejection of the child in the family (emotional rejection). When he feels superfluous and unnecessary, an outcast in his family, he either simply does not want and does not want to draw his family, or
draws her, forgetting to draw himself. In some cases, the artist places his small and inconspicuous figure far from everyone, thereby emphasizing his loneliness among his family. Quite often, between a child who is distant from everyone and members of his family there are some unnecessary objects that increase the disunity of the people drawn. Often the empty gap is suddenly filled with relatives who do not exist, or who actually exist, but are very distant. Cats and dogs also often play the role of buffer.

When he feels superfluous and unnecessary in his family, his figure is the smallest of all, his clothes are gloomy and inconspicuous. Such a person often simply depicts himself with contours and strokes, without stopping at the details, drawing himself to complete the plot. In those cases when, despite everything, he is still attached to one of his parents or to both of them at once, he paints them in warm tones, not skimping on gentle colors. And these warm tones, in contrast to the cold tones with which the artist is depicted, are witnesses to an abyss in the relationship between the child and his family that has already formed or has begun to form.

In Figure 5 (see below), a six-year-old girl, offended by the coldness of her parents and considering herself unnecessary to them, drew them festively and beautifully, deliberately “forgetting” to draw herself next to them. At the experimenter’s request, she then finished drawing her figure, depicting it with an outline and a black pencil, reducing its actual size. Then, after thinking for a minute, she suddenly joyfully illuminated herself with the sun and drew grass. And her whole appearance in the drawing now told everyone: look, look how small I am. I still need people to love me. And if parents don’t understand this, at least let the sun replace them.

As a rule, rejected people usually "forget" to draw the one in their family who, in their opinion, rejects them.

3. Conflict situation in the family. It is known that the younger and more sensitive he is, the more often he considers himself the culprit of conflicts in his family, regarding them as retribution for pampering, disobedience and childhood sins. A child, feeling guilty, is rejected in his own eyes, so his drawings almost always resemble similar drawings of emotional rejection of children in the family. Most often, the artist “forgets” to draw the one close to him, because of whom, as he believes, the conflict arose. And if he does draw that person, in order to attract attention to him, he depicts him higher or lower than everyone standing nearby, in cold, mournful colors. Often, in a conflict situation in a family, all relatives are drawn only as outlines, and their disunity is visible in the fact that they are all separated from each other by unnecessary objects, empty spaces, as if they do not exist all together, but each with himself.

When, during conflicts, he suddenly “forgets” to draw himself, it is as if he is punishing himself. When, unexpectedly for you, he portrays himself next to those relatives for whom he does not have warm feelings, then in this way he most often wants to reduce, neutralize, and perhaps completely hush up the conflict.

4. Jealousy towards one of the parents in the family. When he feels jealousy towards one of his parents, he tries to veil it by suddenly “forgetting” to draw the “unnecessary” parent or, while drawing him, pushing him into the background by all means. As a rule, the “interfering” parent is much shorter than everyone else, homely and sloppily dressed. Often a child only has enough patience to depict it at least in outline. The “interfering” parent in the picture is most often “inactive,” while the beloved one is busy with a common cause with the child.

5. Jealousy of brothers and sisters. The more difficult it is for a child to cope with the sudden feeling of rivalry against other children in the family, the more clearly he reveals this feeling, despite the disguise. Usually the younger one is jealous of the older one, and the older one is jealous of the youngest child in the house. But the hardest thing is for the middle one: his love for his parents is shared with him by two people at once - both the youngest and the oldest. It is even more difficult for jealous little ones in large families. Often a brother is jealous of his mother and father for his sister, and a sister is jealous of her brother. In short, in any family with several children, there is always soil on which jealousy grows. And you, parents, must remember this in order to uproot even its first shoots.

Usually the one who is jealous is drawn close to the parents or close to them. Often the drawing begins with this child in order to attract your attention to the “favorite”; the jealous person either carefully, literally down to the details, draws out his entire figure, increasing his height and dressing him up in flashy clothes, once again emphasizing how well the “favorite” lives in the family, or, forgetting about all precautions and “dealing with” his “tormentor” “at least on paper, depicts him with contours in mourning tones to make you understand how unpleasant the “favorite” is to the artist himself. If jealousy is so strong that you are unable to cope with yourself, he accidentally suddenly “forgets” to include in his family circle either a brother, or a sister, or both at once, although he remembers their existence in the house. There is another option.. To attract the attention of parents, a jealous person, carefully drawing brothers and sisters, does not leave himself any space in the drawing, or depicts his fragile figure at a distance from everyone, thereby emphasizing that he is the odd one out.

If there are several children in your family and one of them, while trying out a drawing, only depicts his brothers and sisters next to you, “forgetting” to draw himself, or draws himself away from everyone, think about what is the reason for the young artist’s discomfort and is this not your fault?

6. Single-parent family. Probably the most severe trauma in childhood is the divorce of parents. A child simply cannot understand how his beloved father (most often the father leaves) or his mother, without whom
It is generally impossible to live, to leave home, and for a long time, forever. And somewhere in the depths of his soul, considering himself the culprit of the events, he wants and dreams of returning to the past, putting everything in the old, former places, so convenient for him.

In addition, he wants to hide the conflict from outsiders, especially when it is not you who is conducting the drawing test. Therefore, usually all family members are present in the picture, even if they are already ex-members. Moreover, the parent who does not live in the house is depicted last, after long thoughts, pauses, and gnawing on pencils. A child, like Hamlet, must make a choice: “to be or not to be”... to draw... or not to... And if the choice is made to draw, the absent family member is drawn as if he were real and very often even has many similarities with the artist himself. Often such a family member is depicted as a vague outline, and between him and everyone else there are various objects, pets, neighbors, relatives and friends, or friendly strangers - phenomena of the child’s magical dreams, in short, all those who can soften the fate of the young artist.

When he gets used to it and, in his own way, comes to terms with the fact that he has an incomplete family, he draws everything as it really is. And in order to show us once again that he doesn’t care, he compensates for the absence of a parent with some other details that are important for him at that moment. As a rule, an incomplete family depicted by a child almost always has a buffer zone in the picture, a zone of hope, a zone of conjecture and dreams of the child, so at any moment an incomplete family can turn into a complete one.

7. The only one very often draws himself between mom and dad. When there are no conflicts in the family, he is the main link in the unification of parents. The smaller the distance between the child and the parents, the closer the members of the whole family are to each other, the stronger the family feelings that bind them. When not everything is going well in the family or during a period of romantic love for parents, the family idyll in the form of a triad - mom, yours, dad or dad, yours, mom - suffers a collapse. And in the young artist’s drawing, the sequence of arrangement of all family members can have many options. And in a chronic conflict situation, with a pronounced lack of communication in the family, like an alien, he looks for new contacts outside the family and “completes” his family with those who have never lived in their house, but with whom he can vent at least his soul in difficult times . Most often, the only one, when talking about a family, depicts the type of parental upbringing.

Recognizing types of education from drawings

Let us give examples of the most common variants of drawings of various types of child rearing.

1. Family idol. With this type of upbringing, he most often begins to draw a family with an image of himself, with his figure in the center of a sheet of paper. His parents are a little further away, admiring him. The size of their figures is lower or equal to the size of the figure of their idol. The artist distinguishes himself with bright outfits; he often wears a crown on his head. And little girl idols almost always identify themselves with young princesses. The parents' outfit is much more prosaic and serves as a gray background for comparison. Against this background, the idol looks like a holiday among everyday life (see below, Fig. 3).

2. Overprotection. The child begins to draw a family from the one who takes care of him the most. Then he draws himself next to him. Usually, overprotected people are close to mom and dad, or at least hold their hands tightly. Or rather, the mother and father themselves hold the child’s hands tightly. When he does something in the picture, his parents admire him, never taking their admiring gaze off him. With this type of upbringing, he is shorter in stature than his parents, only sometimes being on a par with them. His clothes are very similar in color to the outfit of his mother or father, and sometimes both at once: he does not strive, like an idol, to be a holiday against the backdrop of everyday life, knowing full well that overprotection for him is a kind of Chinese wall, instilling once again self-confidence.

3. Hypocare. With this type of education, the child most often expresses his attitude to what is happening with various versions of drawings. There are often cases when he, carefully depicting his entire family, suddenly “forgets” to draw himself among everyone. And to the questions: “Where are you?”, “Why did you forget?” - comes up with the most ordinary versions that justify his absence at the moment: “In kindergarten,” “Walking in the yard,” “The teacher kept me at school.”

An option that is polar to this option is when for some reason, out of all the family members, he prefers to draw only himself, while claiming that no one is at home: his parents went to the cinema, visited someone, did not come home from work...

When he nevertheless paints his family in full, he once again emphasizes the disunity of its members with large gaps
the space between them, involuntarily suggesting that each family member here exists only on his own, he has nothing to do with others, especially with the young artist. Drawing his entire family, he places himself at a distance from everyone, quite isolated and lonely. And this creates the illusion of his simultaneous presence and absence among others.

Quite often, with hypoprotection, they depict themselves only as outlines. Their figures are much lower than the figures of others, even when these “others” are actually lower than the young artist. As a rule, a design with hypoprotection contains both cold and warm tones, their different nuances and shades. When an artist, despite this method of education, idolizes his parents, he does not spare them the brightest colors. Even when dressing himself up, he doesn’t see himself festively dressed. In his outfits there will definitely be at least one detail, but painted in cold tones, and of all these tones black predominates.

4. Neglect. Neglected people most often refuse to draw. They just don't know what family is. After much thought, succumbing to persuasion, agreeing to participate in the test, he draws himself in the form of a small, tiny person in a huge space. Completely alone, a little man who can be examined under a microscope, dressed in clothes of cool colors. The mournful color of these tones is like his soul, turned inside out, overflowing with loneliness. Hopelessness and uselessness emanate from this soul.

5. Vos like "Cinderella". With this type of upbringing, the family usually begins to draw from the brother or sister to whom he is contrasted in the house. The parents are drawn behind the brother or sister, and the artist himself leaves a place for himself somewhere far away from everyone or does not leave it at all, thereby emphasizing that he is superfluous and unnecessary in his own family. Everything in the picture is focused on the child's opponent. His figure is taller than the one drawing, more monumental, more significant. He is either in the center, surrounded by relatives, or he is the first among all. They admire him, admire him... especially when he does something (see Fig. 6 below). And even if “Cinderella” does some tasks a hundred times better than him, parents do not attach special importance to “her” tasks. With this type of upbringing, he does not know how and is unable to hide his undermining jealousy. Therefore, the drawing is full of cold tones. And, taking revenge on his opponent, the artist often dresses him up more prosaically and casually than himself, often thereby complicating your analysis and interpretation of this drawing.

6. "Hedgehog gloves." With this type of upbringing, it is very difficult for a child to draw the whole family as a whole. Being afraid of one of the parents or both at once, he wants to “neutralize” his fear at least on paper. Therefore, usually in the picture there is no member of his entire family who is holding him in these “mittens”. But he surrounds himself with any relatives, except his parents, and even distant acquaintances, in short, those people who, at least to some extent, are capable, even if only temporarily, of softening his fate, reducing the degree of discomfort. When a child has to depict his parents in a drawing, then usually he does not leave room for himself in his plot, in any case, he does not reveal the true reason.

With this type of upbringing, the size of the child’s figure in the picture is much lower than the size of the figures of his parents, and not just lower, but deliberately underestimated.

As a rule, the family member who holds the young artist under a tight rein is depicted by him with an unusually large mouth, most often open, or with huge clawed hands.

When he is literally brought to white heat by this type of upbringing by his parents and is so afraid of them that, although he wants to, he does not dare to “forget” to draw the “tormentor,” then he draws him most often without any mouth at all or without hands at all, so that at least in such a naive way to reduce the fear that captivated him.

As a rule, the drawing is full of cold tones. All warm tones belong only to those who give affection and take pity on the young artist, making his life at least a little easier.

7. Vos according to the type of increased moral responsibility. At first glance, it usually seems that all the drawings of such children are just one of many copies of a typical drawing with overprotection. But this is only at first glance. In fact, with increased responsibility, the artist, just like with overprotection, dreams of showing himself to us in a light favorable to him, now busy with something, now doing something, in order to draw at least part of our attention to this.

However, without realizing it, as a rule, in such drawings he highlights all the nuances and shades of parental upbringing in the family. And if, with overprotection, parents really are unable to take their admiring gaze away from the actions of the young artist, with this type of upbringing their gaze is not at all admiring, but rather evaluative and even slightly biased. And the color scheme in the picture can be very different. However, more often than not, the family member who laid the foundation for increased responsibility in the child is much colder than others. At the very least, there is always at least one dark stroke on it, most likely black - a kind of indicator of the child’s true attitude towards the member of his family depicted by him. A simple, ordinary indicator that breaks all masks.

Take a look at Figure 7 (below). You see a kind of arbitration court. The trial of a child who brought home a C for the first time. The parents' eyes are like the barrels of pistols, ready to shoot at one target. And this target is a first-grader, huddled in a chair, dreaming of merging with him, disappearing, dissolving in him, so as not to see this enraged gaze of his parents. A look of torture and a look of punishment. A look that speaks more than words. The plot is saturated with black color. All people look like blacks. And only a vase with bright flowers on the table and the “fire” of the carpet that flared up give us some kind of hope. Someday, a little later, the child will cope with the difficult mission of increased responsibility suddenly assigned to him. He will stand, he will endure, he will win.

8. Vos "in the cult of illness." And in the picture, a cult is always a cult, no matter what it is. Even though this is just a cult of illness. With this type of upbringing, the drawing seems to be permeated with an all-consuming egocentrism. Rules over everyone. And you involuntarily concentrate your attention on his figure. Like an idol or like overprotection - in such a picture it is most often in the center. Around him are those who constantly look after him in the house. Usually this is a mother or grandmother. There is rarely space left on paper for other family members. Quite often, even in the drawing, they depict how they are sick, and next to them are those who look after them all day and all night, or rather, constantly. But no matter how sad such a plot may sometimes seem to us, the “patient” still prefers to paint it with warm tones...

9. Vos as a “crown prince”. "Crown princes" are the first to draw things. The world of materialism surrounds them on all sides literally from birth, the world of materialism, and not the world of people. The "crown prince" is then usually shown in a drawing of himself playing with these things. He rarely remembers his parents. Much more often, he places his friends next to him, who are able to share his loneliness, playing with the little “crown prince” with his overseas, priceless toys. It is not uncommon for “crown princes” to “replace” a drawing of their own family with a drawing of a room with things...

10. Controversial. This type of upbringing is quite difficult to capture from one picture. The child most often “groups” individual family members into small groups. He places himself next to the one to whom he is most attached. And those relatives who “disturb him” are usually placed at a distance. There are often cases when an artist draws his grandparents as a “buffer” even when they are no longer alive.

11. Change in parenting patterns (see Figure 1 below). The drawing most often reveals the reason for the change in the type of child upbringing, and not the type itself, a type that actually does not exist.

When a newborn appears in a family, the former idol usually “forgets” to draw him among his relatives or, when depicting the baby next to his parents, does not leave room for himself. When dad leaves home forever, he continues to draw him in the family for a long time, as if nothing had happened, often even starting his drawing with his father. He probably just remembers the good and wonderful past, which he would like to return and make it real again.

		Rice. 1. Drawing of a 10-year-old girl, Saule R. “My Family.” Type of upbringing - change of upbringing models. An idol who was rejected due to the birth of other children in the family. And although the main one in the picture is the House, its Hearth, like Carlson, is somewhere on the roof of the house (or behind it). And there is simply no place for the former idol in the house.
Rice. 2. Drawing of a 6-year-old girl, Lera E. “My Family.” Type of education - neglect. Lonely, unwanted, rejected. And even the girl’s fragile figure resembles the letter “I”. Me, I'm completely alone in this world. And is there really not even a person in the city who would need me...
		Rice. 3. Drawing of a 7-year-old girl, Olya M. “My Family.” Type of education - family idol. The idol of the family in all its monumentality.
Rice. 4. Drawing of a girl 6 years and 7 months old. Sveta T. "My Family". The type of education is closer to hypoprotection. A child who often feels lonely in the family, jealous of his parents for his younger sister, for the sister who receives not only the affection of mom and dad, but even their flowers. Dad's black trousers suggest that the girl is also worried about her father's bad habits - the source of scandals in the house.
		Rice. 5. Drawing of a girl 6 years 5 months. Lera G. "My Family". Type of education - hypoprotection. Another example when, as if in a completely prosperous family, even admiring mom and dad, she feels superfluous, believing that she is not needed by them at all. Against the backdrop of his festively dressed parents, all the time occupied only with themselves, he agreed only at the request of the elder to portray himself as a faceless silhouette.
Rice. 6. Drawing of a 13-year-old girl, Lena K. “My Family.” Vos like "Cinderella". No matter how Cinderella tries to attract her parents’ attention to herself by playing the piano, mom and dad don’t care about her, and they are completely absorbed in the family by the pampering and pranks of her brother.
		Rice. 7. Drawing of a boy 7 years 6 months old. Aidana S. "My Family". Vos according to the type of high moral responsibility.
Rice. 8. Drawing of a 10-year-old girl, Saule R. “The Family I Want.” The rejected idol (see Fig. 1) dreams of returning to the past, so that the family will be the same as before, with one child, of course, him. But, appearing as black strokes on the figures, the harsh reality haunts him: it is unlikely that this can happen again in his family.
		Rice. 9. Drawing of a 6-year-old girl, Lera E. “The Family I Want.” Dreams and reveries of a neglected child. At least the holiday united the family again. Let mom and dad finally see that they have grown up, become equal to them and dream of living in their own family.
Rice. 10. Drawing of a girl 6 years 9 months. Tanya B. "The Family I Want." The dreams and daydreams of a girl whom her father keeps under a tight rein (for explanations, see the text).
		Rice. 11. Drawing of a girl 6 years 8 months. Olya B. "The Family I Want." I want a family soaked in the sun, so that we are always only together, so that everyone is for everyone, and everyone is for one!

So, you have taken only the first steps to diagnose intra-family relationships using the “My Family” test, which is so simple and at the same time so universal. However, in order to look even deeper into the child’s soul, you can also use our version of this test, modifying it into the “The Family I Want” technique.

To do this, after your family has finished drawing, turn the sheet of paper over to the other side and give him a new task: let him draw another family with the same pencils, but not a twin family, but the one he would like to have, in other words - “The family I want.”

“The family I want”... With your task, you managed to involuntarily press the levers of the child’s imagination, remove the brakes, lift the veil of his secrets, seeing what is hidden even for a child. And if the first of the drawings is most often something like a lock, which is not always possible to open because of the cipher, then the second drawing is the key to the lock, the code to the cipher. The second drawing is a positive after the retoucher worked with the negative of the first drawing. The second drawing is the “entrance” to what you want, the “entrance” to the “Beautiful Far Away,” which you would not mind having right now. You will not find in the second drawing even a hint of the silhouettes of the artist’s future husband or future wife. You won't find his future children in the second picture. A child is simply not yet able to portray this to you himself.

He imagines “the family I want” only in the present. “Beautiful Far Away” is desired for him today. And for it to become obvious, you just need to remove the obstacles that stand in the way a little. And he easily “eliminates” them on paper, “neutralizing” them with his own methods. Therefore, usually in the picture “The Family I Want,” someone from the child’s true family often “disappears,” or dubious relatives appear, about whom few people knew. The artist either “shortens” or “lengthens” his family, making only a replacement and change of scenery that is understandable to him. When there is no visible replacement, then usually in the second picture the sequence of arrangement of the figures of the child’s parents, as well as his brothers and sisters, is different and differs much from the one that we saw during the “My Family” sample. As a rule, almost all relatives change places for some reason. And if suddenly the artist’s father kept him under a tight rein and because of this he was the first in the drawing “My Family,” then the second test puts everything in the right place. Therefore, when he nevertheless decides to “leave” even such a dad in the new family, he draws him at a distance from everyone and after everyone.

That relative whom for some reason “forgets” to portray in “The Family I Want”, as a rule, is the source of his discomfort, the cause of all worries and adversity. And, having “excluded” him from the members of his own family and thus completed his “judgment,” the artist seems to be telling us a way out of this situation and “hinting” how to implement it.

Take a look at the drawing of the former idol (see Fig. 8). In “My Family” (see Fig. 1) he only depicted himself. But in “The Family I Want” he seems to be restoring the past. And mom and dad are next to him again, and not as before, behind a closed door. Indeed, “My Family” is indeed often a locked door. But “The Family I Want” is a gate wide open for others. And now the outcast (see Fig. 2) dreams of uniting a family with a holiday, in which he himself would be like a holiday (see Fig. 9) And the one whom his father kept under a tight rein takes everyone except his dad for a walk , accidentally “forgot” to call her father with her (see Fig. 10), and sends her older sister on urgent, urgent and important matters for her, in order to finally be alone with her beloved mother.

Oh, if only the fairy tale came true! Oh, if reality suddenly turned into a fairy tale! And the sun would always shine on the family. And everyone could not live without each other (see Fig. 11). I want a family soaked in the sun. I want a family that is like the sun. I want HOPE, FAITH and LOVE to always live in my family!

You have probably convinced yourself that most often the “masks” from the analysis of the drawing “My Family” are “torn off” only by the drawing “The Family I Want.” And if you suddenly had to limit yourself to one drawing, you would doubt your own guesses. Therefore, when it suddenly becomes difficult to decode the drawing test “My Family,” use its version “The Family I Want.”

When a child draws, he conveys to us a message encrypted in the images. Depicting the most ordinary people, objects, landscapes, he unconsciously reflects his attitude towards them, expresses his experiences, showing hidden character traits. But, of course, you need to understand that the interpretation of the drawings is not absolutely unambiguous. You should not, having discovered 1-2 warning signs (“Oh, horror, he painted the sun black!”), draw conclusions and look for solutions to “terrible problems.” (By the way, many young artists prefer black because it is very clear and contrasty). For a non-professional psychologist, a child’s drawing can only become a guide, a signal to observe behavioral characteristics, and take a closer look at certain inclinations.

What characteristic features of drawing style are useful for parents to pay attention to in order to better understand their child?

Pressure: even and moderate speaks of balance, flexibility, self-control, and a tendency to think about one’s actions. Strong - about tension, will, assertiveness, a high level of energy, the desire to overcome resistance (sometimes these can be actions out of spite or in spite of). But weak indicates general indecisiveness, lack of faith in one’s strengths. The baby needs support and approval.

But! If a child spends a long time in conditions where he has to restrain his activity (“to be good and correct” in kindergarten), then through strong pressure in the drawing he can “throw off” the accumulated energy.

Size: large large elements often mean egocentrism, a desire for expansion, activity, even aggressiveness. And little people and houses are a sign of timidity, anxiety, a feeling of one’s own insignificance, restraint in expressing feelings, and tightness.

But! The large size of the figures may be associated both with the significance of the character for the child and with vision problems.

Location on the sheet: if the baby usually draws in the center, it means he is comfortable and prosperous. The picture shifts to the right - interest in the future, in change. To the left is a sign of immaturity. A dreamer and an optimist will draw at the top of the sheet, and a pessimist at the bottom.

But! This interpretation only works if the child is right-handed. In addition, a lot depends on the plot of the picture.

Palette: if 1 color is usually used, this indicates a fear of expressing oneself; from 2 to 5 - the child is open to new things, flexible, self-confident; more than 7 colors mean emotional mobility (instability). Predominantly dark colors indicate a tendency towards negative emotions and depression. Bright ones indicate activity and cheerfulness.

But! The choice of color depends on the mood at a particular moment. In addition, at the age of about 6 years, children begin to separate colors according to “gender” (pink is “girly”), choosing “their own” palette for the drawing. But as they get older, many, on the contrary, diligently avoid such division and do not use boring colors.

Discuss their drawings with your children: this will teach them to better understand their feelings

This test helps to find out how a child reacts to a stressful situation. After all, the model of behavior is laid down in childhood. Therefore, it is useful for parents of a preschool child to understand how the child adapts to new circumstances, how he reacts to failures - and what qualities need to be developed so that he learns to quickly cope with troubles.

What you need: Two landscape sheets; pencils (at least 12 pieces of different colors); eraser.

Task: Give the child the first sheet, placing it vertically. Offer to draw a person, then ask them to draw the same character in the rain on a second sheet of paper.

The clear lines of the drawing indicate a tendency to analyze what is happening in detail, assess the situation, and sometimes become too self-absorbed.

Variable contours (sometimes drawn, sometimes not) indicate impulsiveness, susceptibility to emotions in difficult circumstances.

Shading - tension, anxiety, fear of doing something wrong (fear of punishment). Thin sketch lines - a child is highly impressionable and suspicious.

The image is primitive (“stick, stick, cucumber”) - the baby is looking for approval and support.

Very bright shades - a tendency to exaggerate the significance of unpleasant events.

Dark tones - fear of condemnation in a difficult situation, bad premonitions.

A clear color distinction between the character and the bad weather - the child’s awareness and understanding of a stressful situation, the ability to see its possible causes, to evaluate both himself and his condition.

Rainbow, sun, flowers, mushrooms growing in the rain - the desire for the best, the baby is internally ready to overcome difficulties

The more raindrops, the more the child is afraid of difficulties; rare trickles - the baby does not worry: the problems will soon go away.

Clouds are a threat of big troubles and punishment. The sky is overcast - a decadent mood.

Puddles indicate sensitivity, vulnerability, and the ability to worry about problems for a long time.

An umbrella is a symbol of connection with parents; open - waiting for help from mom, closed - from father.

The absence of an umbrella, a roof - immaturity, reluctance to make decisions on your own.

Gender indicates a model of behavior in a stressful situation: masculine characterizes determination, active actions in search of a way out; female - passivity, dominance of intuition. “Gender change” in the second picture indicates a change in behavior style. If a hero of the opposite sex is depicted, it means that the child is adopting someone else’s model of behavior (one of his relatives).
Age symbolizes the level of qualities that help make decisions: an adult - prudence, a child - the need for support.

Large head - high intelligence, ingenuity; a small one indicates a low assessment of mental abilities.

A large torso is a symbol of dissatisfaction (I would like to be a superhero, to win admiration); too small - a feeling of undervaluation, humiliation. Sloping shoulders speak of despondency and despair.

Face: poorly drawn - reluctance to notice problems and deal with difficulties. Depicted in detail - activity, the importance of relationships with other people.

Hands: spread to the sides - openness; hidden behind your back - unwillingness to compromise, inflexibility. Pressed to the body is a symbol of stiffness.
The character’s actions (runs away, rejoices, sits in a puddle) directly reflect the child’s real behavior under stress.

The larger the character, the better the children cope with troubles. A small figure speaks of a desire to shift responsibility to others. If it is huge and does not fit on the page, the child focuses on emotions and cannot sensibly assess what is happening.

The drawing at the top of the sheet represents confusion, a retreat into a fantasy world. Below - depression, a feeling of hopelessness and the impossibility of changing the situation. At the center is the willingness to solve problems.

Shift to the left - hope that mom will come to the rescue. To the right - attachment to the father, the desire to impress him with one’s behavior in difficult circumstances.

The figure is in profile, from the back - the child withdraws into himself, hence the difficulty in establishing contacts.

The hero is turned to the left - the baby is focused on himself, not very decisive.
Turned to the right - active, optimistic, thinking about the future and ready to develop.

! Important!

If there are a lot of negative elements in the pictures, invite your child to make up a story based on the picture and come up with an unexpected twist: “What will happen if the sun comes out?” Add a second character (“helper”) - suggest new ways to behave under stress.

The figure has grown noticeably in the second picture. This means that the child feels older when faced with difficulties, and this gives him pleasure. Although he uses the usual model of behavior - help and support from his mother (turned slightly to the left), she has already outlived her usefulness, and he is internally ready to “separate” and act on his own. True, so far he does not see how to do this, looking back into the past and without relying on a male model. It's time to think together about how you can act in difficult situations (“turn your legs to the right, into the future”).