I just have to preface this discussion by saying, “I told you so.” And the best way to explain exactly what I mean is to use my exact words. So, let me recap some of my written sentiments from my post, entitled Begin with the End.
. . . the two fundamental steps that should be applied when participating in the ongoing child talent development process:
- identify your child’s strengths, natural talents, skills, and interests (at as early an age as possible) and then,
- provide them with opportunities to develop in those areas.
I went on to complete Step 1 by stating the following, regarding my oldest child (my daughter, Toodlez):
Step #1 for Toodlez: strong in STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) areas with a high acuity in math, highly artistic in the visual arts, strong in hands-on techniques, cooking guru, hair care experimenter, gardening cultivator, analytical thinker, strong critical thinking skills, creative, artistic designer, instructor, strong interpersonal skills, content creator…
Furthermore, I restated all of the above in order to bring some clarity to the following Jana’s quotable, which was also included in the “Begin with the End” post . . . “investing in your children now is sure to pay off big dividends for them (and you too) in the future.” And I know this saying to be true to the inner core of my being. In fact, I must say that the creative talent development that my daughter participated in from her elementary school days of playful artistic expression to her serious artistic works for rigorous art classes and organizations, competitions, and college credit throughout high school until this very day has manifested itself in a way that has come around full circle. Maybe it’s becoming more clear to you why I chose to bring the quote above into today’s discussion? All of the investment in identifying Toodlez’ creative talents (Step 1), while giving her the opportunity to explore and develop those talents (step 2) has currently led to her utilizing those gifts to bless the family business, here at Degrees of Maternity.
Toddlez designed the book cover for my debut book and I’m sooooooooo incredibly pleased with her work. She’s never taken formal graphic design courses in high school or college, but she’s always had an affinity for art. She’s self-taught. As a matter of fact, she never received any formal instruction on how to properly use her Wacom Intuos Creative Pen Tablet for hand-drawing the book cover image. And she definitely hasn’t spent hours scouring YouTube videos, reading books, or taking courses in Adobe Photoshop, which she used to put the whole book cover layout (image and text) together. Again, she simply taught herself with what few instructions she had at her disposal and then the rest of the learning process consisted of trial and error learning sessions. I’m not entirely sure, but would Toodlez’ be considered somewhat of a pantser based on the creative behavior I just described? All I know is that I showed her a few images that I pulled up from Canva to give her some inspiration, told her some of the things I wanted in the image, and let her use her ingenuity to guide her the rest of the way. And what Toodlez created was so much better than I could have hoped for.
The fact that my daughter created my book cover is causing me to take repeated moments of silence to reflect in awe at the blossoming of a nurtured bud. I’m screaming for joy inside and I’m so incredibly proud of her. I couldn’t be more excited about the cover, knowing that my book baby is getting to benefit from the talents of my baby girl that were encouraged (by Dad and Mom) from their very beginnings. I’m even more honored to have this opportunity to showcase her work to the world. I know that she just graduated from college and is thoroughly enjoying the work she does as an engineer, but I do plan on making sure that her artistic flair doesn’t dry up. In retrospect, I think I’ve just identified my book cover designer for life. It’s a load off my mind, knowing that I have the book cover piece taken care of for future purposes; and it’s an even better feeling knowing that I can keep some of the self-publishing pieces within the family. Now, if I can just figure out how to format my books, then I might be able to keep all the business aspects of self-publishing within the family. Here’s to continuous learning.
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