Friday Rorschach: The Polite Teddy Bear

What might this be?

My son drew this one. It is one of the more obvious Friday Rorschach pictures--most people thought it looked like an animal--but there are subtle nuances in the drawing that intrigued me, so I thought I would use it this week.

First things first. It is a teddy bear. My son told me he drew the arms crossed in front because he thought it was cute (this is also the same position my son stands in when he has waited too long to go to the bathroom). He said the line separating the head from the body is of no significance--he just drew the head first and then added the body afterward.

Here are some of the animal-related responses I received from Twitter:

@mwachtel Obviously it is a dancing polar bear
— Cindy Potts (@CBPotts) January 3, 2014

@mwachtel Don't be silly, @CBPotts, that's the Easter Bunny paying tribute to Daddy Mac from KrisKross.
— Justin Gifford (@GiffTor) January 3, 2014

@mwachtel the 2yo here says it's a polar bear
— NoJudge (@amafera) January 3, 2014

@mwachtel Wolverine?
— YC Psychology (@ycpsych) January 3, 2014

Several people thought it looked more like an otter.

@mwachtel cat? Otter? Hard to tell without the ears, But it looks like an otter swimming on its back. pic.twitter.com/B2vj0GQUAf
— FIRE THEM ALL- 2014 (@SandraHartle) January 3, 2014

Numerous people picked up on the crossed arms, thinking it signified proper manners.

@mwachtel A bear sitting proper for his dinner guests.
— Joshua Garity (@iamlucid) January 3, 2014

@mwachtel A bear learning to keep his paws to himself #kiddrawing
— Gina Kincade (@gkincade16) January 3, 2014

Only one person mentioned the mark on the left-hand side of the drawing. You might not even remember the mark to which I am referring. Scroll back up to the top. I promise it is there.

@mwachtel Lost one ear already, the other one you can just see flying away, but it doesn't really bother me, tho.
— Ryan (@RyanDriehuys) January 3, 2014

My son told me the mark was a mistake--he started drawing the head of the bear, but it did not turn out the way he wanted so he moved to the right side of the page. Why do you think it is that we adults so often choose to ignore those extraneous marks in drawings? Does that translate into ignoring the extraneous in our lives?

And, there is one other aspect to this drawing that did not translate well on Twitter--If you look closely, you will see a faint drawing of a person. You can see the eyes, a pair of glasses, a neck, hair, outstretched arms, and a gigantic smile.

My son drew that picture on the opposite side of the page, but it appeared very faintly in the photograph I took of the paper. Any guesses as to who he drew a portrait of?

Thanks for reading-- Max Wachtel, Ph.D.
www.CherryCreekPsychology.com
www.Twitter.com/mwachtel
www.Facebook.com/drmaxwachtel

Friday Rorschach is a fun project designed to engage readers' creativity. To participate, follow Max on twitter. He posts the drawing every Friday morning around 10am ET/8am MT.

Posted in: #kiddrawing,Friday Rorschach