My previously mellow 3-year-old has been having some major freak-outs recently when trying to draw and write. He actually has great fine motor skills for his age, but of course his drawings do not match up with his visions of what he wants to create. He has really intense crying fits--his body shakes, and he throws his pencils and wails piteously and screams "I can't do it." My older DD is intense in many ways but has never been like this about stuff, so this is pretty new.
He does not want me to trace for him and him to go over it. He does not want to draw cooperatively. Admiring what he does produce does not help. I affirm that it is frustrating and tell him I know it's hard when you're drawing and things don't look exactly how you like, but I am out of other ideas. It is sad and a little disturbing to see my normally mellow little dude go through this--these are actually probably the worst tantrums he has ever had in his life.
Thoughts? I have considered taking the drawing implements away when this happens, but that seems overly punitive. We do not ask or encourage him to draw/write--this is all his own initiative.
