When Your Child Sees Colors Differently: What I Learned as a Mom

Sometimes motherhood means learning to see the world from your child’s point of view.

When I first learned that my son was color deficient, I had a lot to process.

It was heartbreaking for me as his mom. I wasn’t looking for a medical lesson. I was looking for a way to help my son learn without making him feel like there was something wrong with him.

I started by listening to what he saw

Once we understood that he was seeing colors differently, some of the little moments from everyday life suddenly made sense.

His dad would ask him to bring the red hammer. He never brought it. We had thought maybe he wasn’t listening. After we understood what was happening, we looked at each other and said, “Makes sense that I never got the red hammer.”

Then there was the day my son told me, “my mom has green hair like my teacher.”

My hair was blonde. He was seeing it as green.

Those moments taught us something simple but important: before telling him what color something was supposed to be, we could ask him what he saw.

I found a simple way to help him learn colors

Once he could read, I taught him to read the names printed on his crayons and markers.

That gave him another way to learn. Even if he was seeing a color differently, he could learn what that color was called.

I also taught him shapes and encouraged him to create.

And creating helped me, too

At the time, I was trying to figure out how to help my son while dealing with my own feelings. Creating something purposeful gave me a positive place to put those feelings.

Instead of constantly thinking, “My son has this issue,” I could focus on making something that might actually help him—and other moms and children who were going through something similar.

I stopped trying to make his experience fit mine

That was probably one of the biggest things I learned.

My son wasn’t experiencing color the way I did. That didn’t mean he couldn’t learn. It meant we sometimes needed a different way to get there.

So our family started asking him what he saw before telling him what we thought he should see.

That became part of how we understood his world.

That experience became A Rainbow of Shapes

In 2008, I created A Rainbow of Shapes.

The book wasn’t created as a medical resource. It came from a mom who wanted to help her child learn colors and shapes in a way that felt positive, imaginative, and fun.

The original back-cover description says:

“An imaginative approach to help children with color deficiencies by using the primary colors of the rainbow in various shapes.”

That is the heart of the book.

Looking back, I think the bigger lesson was that helping a child doesn’t always mean finding a way to make them see things the way you do.

Sometimes it means listening first, finding another way to teach, and giving them room to learn in their own way.

Want to read the full story behind the book? Read the KidsWonderArt Story.

Looking for simple ways for children to learn through play? Visit Creativity & Learning.