When Sophie’s Feelings Are Really, Really Hurt

One day at school the teacher asks the children to go look for a tree and memorize all about it, as the next day they are going to make a painting of it.

Sophie has a favorite tree, a beech that she loves climbing because it makes her feel strong and happy. The next day, she starts paining it and finds that the grey trunk looks so dull and sad, so she decides to paint it bright blue. Then she picks orange for the sky, mixes yellow and green for the leaves, and draws a yellow line all over the tree, to make it shiny. Andrew, another student, starts making fun of her painting, as he says all the colors are wrong. Sophie starts crying. The teacher asks Sophie to explain to the entire class and why when she chose those colors. Sophie gets to say how happy the tree makes her, and how beautiful and shiny it is. The teacher has Andrew explain why his tree, on the other hand, has curvy roots that seem to hold on to the ground. These were his feelings when he was painting it. So all children learn to like each other’s painting, and that everyone can see things differently and express different feelings when painting. It is OK to be different. Sophie goes home happy to be herself.