--- title: Parenting How to talk to your kids about art, even if you don't get it description: Even when you know nothing about it canonical: https://time.com/3740746/how-to-talk-to-kids-about-art/ author: Carey Wallace article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-03-11T18:55:13.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:02:26.176Z og:title: How to talk to your kids about art og:description: You don't have to know a lot about art to have a worthwhile conversation og:url: https://time.com/3740746/how-to-talk-to-kids-about-art/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaabb1b9b6d7a2554/6987832f8e060126d845abb6/child-art-gallery.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2067 og:image:height: 1163 og:image:alt: Mother and daughter in art gallery og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: How to talk to your kids about art twitter:description: You don't have to know a lot about art to have a worthwhile conversation twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaabb1b9b6d7a2554/6987832f8e060126d845abb6/child-art-gallery.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # How to Talk To Kids About Art > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ## Video: The American Teenager in 2015 [Watch (HLS stream): The American Teenager in 2015](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/yvcajvQf.m3u8) (3:31)  _Published 2015-01-29. Then and now, it's not easy being teens. Watch what the teenagers of 2015 have to say about their generation, and the ones before._  by [Carey Wallace](https://time.com/author/carey-wallace/)  ## Carey Wallace Mar 11, 2015 6:55 PM UTC  Mother and daughter in art gallery Mother and daughter in art gallery Getty Images  by [Carey Wallace](https://time.com/author/carey-wallace/)  ## Carey Wallace Mar 11, 2015 6:55 PM UTC It’s not always easy to talk about art. As the dancer Isadora Duncan is quoted as saying, “If I could say it, I wouldn’t have to dance it.” Still, art is good for kids. Studies show that when they get into art, they’re more empathetic and more involved with their communities. They have higher career goals, better critical thinking skills, and better academic outcomes. Yet schools are increasingly finding art is squeezed out of their curriculum in favor of more “useful” subjects. So how can a parent start good conversations with kids about art? Barbara Hunt McLanahan, executive director of the Children’s Museum of the Arts in New York, says that the first thing parents need to understand about art is that “there’s no right and wrong. That’s the joy of it,” she explains. “Especially today when there’s so much emphasis on testing and standards. With art, you can encourage individuality. It’s good to be different.” Parents may feel like they’ve got to be experts in art to talk about it, but McLanahan suggests a different perspective: learning along with your kids. “Side by side learning is one of our philosophies,” she says. You don’t have to know everything to start a conversation on art with your kids – you just have to be curious, and willing to learn. [For more parenting tips, news and guidance, sign up here to get our free weekly newsletter, TIME for Parents](http://time.com/t4parents). Michelle Lopez, Director of Community Programs at the Children’s Museum of the Arts, suggests starting conversations about art with **_elementary school kids_** with three simple questions. When looking at a work of art, start by asking, “What’s happening?” Give them a chance to form some opinions by asking, “What do you see that makes you think that?” Then keep exploring with, “What else can we find?” **_Middle school_**_,_ McLanahan says, is a good time for kids to start getting curious about the artist. Parents and kids can talk together about questions like, “Why would an artist make those choices? How would the piece change if they’d made a different one?” As students move into **_high school_**_,_ Lopez says, art can be an interesting way “to get to know your children as they get older.” When looking at art, kids often “project their views, thoughts, and emotions.” Then parents can “demonstrate that you respect their ideas or disagree” – all within the “safe space in the conversation about the artwork.” The most important thing for parents and kids at any age to know about art? It’s pretty simple, McLanahan says: “Have fun with it. It’s all about having fun.” ## Transcript 50 years ago you weren't expected to go to college. It was finish high school and go get a job. Now it's finish college and then figure out how to get out of debt. Taking selfies, posting stuff about what you're doing, we have different portals that allow us to be more selfish. The biggest difference between being a teenager now and 50 years ago. I think we have more responsibility for things. Is the technology and the resources that we have. The way we communicate with each other and the way we interact with one another. [ MUSIC ] The latest dance is the jerk. Partners. Face each other. Three feet apart then langorously sway their upper swine and arms while rhythmically punctuating the undulations with a savage pelvic thrust. [ LAUGH ] Oh dear. Pelvic thrusting? That still exists. One you've got to name the number one there you go. Twerking. The thing that's what it used to be called when I was in middle school. Yeah when girl's doing it that. [ LAUGH ] And then guys are like beat alright it's dry humping basically. [ LAUGH ] There it go it's dry humping. I don't get authority at home. We're just a bunch of people who go about our business and live under one roof. My parents are definitely more authority figures than they are friends. for me, but sometimes it can be friends. Depending on the conversations we have, sometimes it's, Kristen, I have a story to tell you about my day at work or Kristen, how are you feeling? Or Kristen, do you like a boy? It always goes back to do you like a boy. It's all right to get blasted, if you can be. Can be witty or brave. But if you get sloppy, you're way out. Glue- sniffing and marijuana are also out, because they bring on major trouble from the cops. I don't think drinking is popular among my friend group. But it is definitely popular among this generation. This generation loves pushing the envelope and trying to get away with. What they know they shouldnt be doing? I mean, when you watch movies, you know you get, you can get the sense where, oh, if they can do it then we could do it. A lot of people are using mari, marijuana right now. It's so normal now, like everybody just talks about it just like in the most like loose terms ever. Kids just go out and like do whatever they want. Behind every reasonably well- heeled teenager lurks a stereo set endlessly playing the Beatles. Big in the older set: the twanging social protests of folk singer Bob Dylan. [ INAUDIBLE ] teenager, [ INAUDIBLE ] stereo set and this we play with the Beatles. [ INAUDIBLE ] and the older set, the twanging social protest of folk singer Bob Dylan. I'm not going to lie, this morning I was listening to the Beatles. State Motel, we've been getting into a lot. State Motel, I love Artig [ INAUDIBLE ]. Monk is. Oh, I think Monk is amazing. Yeah we listen to a whole bunch of different genres. [ LAUGH ] I was going to say, like, Travis Scott and, and then they just started talking about the Neighborhood. And I was like, what? [ CROSSTALK ] I don't want the parents that are going to watch this til they go Google the Weekend and they listen to their music. [ LAUGH ] Well, I don't know. I think they've heard worse. It is scary not knowing what you're gonna do but I'm really excited to figure out like, the next step after high school. No. I don't think that it's easier to, living today as a teenager. Those pressures don't allow us to connect with like, older generations. 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