by Michael Hall
review by Emily Phillips
A blue crayon is mislabeled as red. All the other crayons want him to draw things that are red but he can’t get it right. It says red on his label so that must be right. They tell him he needs to try harder and keep practicing but he just can’t get it right and feels bad about himself One crayon asks him to draw water. “Red”doesn’t think he can because he’s red, it says so on his label. But with some friendly encouragement he tries. He realizes he can draw water. He starts to draw all kinds of blue things. He is able to be seen for who he really is “blue” no matter what his label says.
General thoughts
We all have labels we use to describe ourselves and others. Labels can be helpful in some situations, but when forcing someone into a label that is not who they are it causes a lot of pain. Trying to live life in a way that does not feel authentic to who you are is not good for anyone. Sometimes all it takes is one person to help change the way we view ourselves and others by “pulling off” the label.
Discussion questions
- What are some “labels” or titles that might describe you? Child, son, daughter, brother, sister, soccer player, student, piano player, etc.
- Have you ever been called something that made you uncomfortable? Did you tell the person or anyone else about this? How do you ask for help when the label you are given doesn’t feel right?
- Talk about how our world labels us by our skin color, such as white, brown or black. Sometimes we are labeled by our cultures such as Native American, African American, Hispanic. There are times, however, when people use labels to hurt others, like calling someone fat or ugly and stupid.
- Have you ever witnessed someone being called bad things; what did you do?
- How can kids (and adults) help their peers when they see someone being pushed into a label that doesn’t fit them?
- As people of faith how can we push past labels and see each individual and their abilities as being gifts from God with out having to confirm to a preconceived idea of who they should be.
- Remind your child that he or she is loved and that during their baptism they were marked as God’s forever.
Activities with kids
- Place labels on various household items that are wrong. Talk about how calling a table a couch does not make a good place to sit or a couch does not make a good cabinet to store dishes.
- putting a label on something doesn’t actually change it or it’s abilities
- Give your child a large sheet of drawing paper and a pack of crayons. Ask this to draw on the paper images or labels that help tell others who your child is. When finished, encourage them to tell you about what they have drawn.
- Print the outline of the crayon below and have your child cut the crayon out. They ask them to turn over the imagine and on the inside rectangle write all they want to tell who they are (drawings for younger children can been done.) Then turn the paper back over, fold the crayon label so that the words are now covered with the label. Discuss with your child how most of the time people don’t see who we really are until we open up and share. Point out also, that even if others place a label on you that makes you uncomfortable, you know who you are on the inside and that is the true you.
