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Tag: Color Vision Deficiency

  • Mom, Is This Pen Black or Red? (Yes, He’s 24!)

    Some things never change. 😂

    When my son was little, we learned he had color vision deficiency, often called color blindness. I taught him to identify colors by reading the names printed on crayons and markers. He learned his colors that way, even when he couldn’t always tell them apart by looking.

    Fast-forward about 20 years.

    My son is 24 years old, holding two pens, and asks me:

    “Mom, is this pen black or red?”

    And there we were, still having one of those everyday color conversations. I had to smile. Not at him—just at how life has a funny way of bringing the same little moments back around.

    He knows his colors. He has for years. But knowing the names of colors and seeing the difference between them are not the same thing. And sometimes it’s easier to ask Mom than to hunt for a label!

    When people hear “color blindness in kids,” they may picture a young child struggling to learn colors. What I’ve learned from raising a child with color vision deficiency is that the questions don’t necessarily stop when childhood ends. The way someone sees color can still affect ordinary things—like choosing between two pens—well into adulthood.

    Color vision deficiency looks different from person to person. Some people have trouble distinguishing certain reds and greens, while others find different color combinations challenging. It’s not always about seeing no color at all.

    More stories, whenever they pop into my head

    I’ve been thinking back to so many moments from when my boys were growing up, especially the everyday experiences that came with parenting a child with color blindness.

    These stories probably won’t be in chronological order. One day I might remember something from when they were little; another day it might be something that happened recently. I’m just going to share them as they come to me.

    Because that’s how memories work, isn’t it?

    More stories coming soon. ❤️

  • What My Son Still Sees Differently Today

    Years have passed since those kindergarten days, but some things haven’t changed.

    My son is grown now. He is no longer the little boy bringing me crayons or making school pictures at the kitchen table.

    But he still sees some colors differently.

    He knows what colors are supposed to be

    One of the things that became easier as he got older was learning the names of colors.

    He can see a color one way and still know what that color is called. He knows what it is “supposed to be,” even when his eyes are showing him something different.

    That distinction became especially important when he was young.

    The sky can still look pink

    That little boy who once looked at a picture and told me the sky was pink still sees the sky differently.

    He knows the sky is supposed to be blue.

    But what he sees can still look different to him.

    And honestly, that is something our family has learned to accept instead of argue with.

    We still ask what he sees first

    Our family developed a habit when he was growing up.

    Instead of immediately telling him what color something was, we would ask:

    “What color do you see?”

    That question stuck.

    We still use it today.

    The grass story still makes me smile

    At one point, we asked him what color the grass was before telling him what we expected him to say.

    He said brown.

    He still sees it as brown, but he knows grass is supposed to be green.

    It is one of those things that reminds me that knowing the name of a color and actually seeing that color aren’t necessarily the same experience.

    And then there was the green coffee

    I drink a lot of coffee with creamer. To me, it looks brown—almost like peanut butter.

    One day I asked my son to bring me my coffee.

    He came back and said:

    “Here is your green coffee, Ma.”

    He still calls it green.

    But he knows it is supposed to be brown.

    Those little moments have become funny family stories now, but they also remind me how different someone’s experience of the same ordinary thing can be.

    Growing up changed the way he learned

    When he was in elementary school, reading the color names on crayons and markers gave him another way to work with colors.

    By high school, there was less drawing and more pottery and hands-on projects. I noticed that the colors he used often seemed more muted to me.

    He was still creating. He was simply doing it in a different stage of life.

    He buys his own clothes now—but still calls Mom

    When he was little, I bought basic-colored clothes for him so I knew things would match.

    Now he’s grown and buys his own clothes.

    And yet, every so often, he still calls Mom and asks if something matches.

    Some things change.

    Some things don’t. ❤️

    What I learned from watching him grow

    I used to think helping him meant teaching him to see colors the way I saw them.

    Over time, I realized that wasn’t the point.

    The point was helping him understand the world he was living in while respecting the way he experienced it.

    That lesson became part of the reason I created A Rainbow of Shapes in 2008.

    The book was never about telling a child that what they saw was wrong. It was about finding another way to learn.

    The story is still part of our family

    My son grew up, but the lesson stayed with me.

    Sometimes the best thing a parent can do is pause before correcting a child and ask what they see.

    That one question can open the door to understanding.

    If you’d like to read the full story behind the book, visit the KidsWonderArt Story.

    You can also visit the Shop to learn more about A Rainbow of Shapes.

  • The Story Behind A Rainbow of Shapes

    Sometimes a children’s book begins with a story that has nothing to do with becoming an author—and everything to do with being a mom.

    A Rainbow of Shapes began with my son.

    The moment that started it

    In kindergarten, I learned that my son was color deficient.

    Learning that was heartbreaking for me as his mom. I wanted to help him learn without making him feel like there was something wrong with the way he saw the world.

    I wasn’t looking for a business idea. I wasn’t trying to create a product.

    I was trying to help my child.

    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.

    If he saw a color differently, he could still learn what that color was called.

    I also taught him shapes.

    And I started thinking about how colors and shapes could come together through creativity and play.

    Then the little moments started making sense

    There was the red hammer his dad asked him to bring—and he never brought it.

    There was the day he told me, “My mom has green hair like my teacher.” My hair was blonde.

    There was the school artwork where he looked at a pink sky and told me, “What you mean mom look its pink in the sky.”

    Once we understood that he was seeing colors differently, our family started asking a different question:

    “What color do you see?”

    That simple question became an important part of how we understood his experience.

    Creating gave me something positive to focus on

    As a mom, I could have spent all my energy focusing on the problem.

    Instead, creating gave me something purposeful to build.

    It gave me happy thoughts instead of constantly thinking, “My son has this issue.”

    I wanted to create something that could help my son and other moms and children who might be going through something similar.

    A Rainbow of Shapes was created in 2008

    That idea became A Rainbow of Shapes in 2008.

    The book brought together the things I had been thinking about: primary colors, shapes, creativity, imagination, and learning through play.

    The original purpose is captured in the wording on the back of the book:

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

    That sentence still says exactly what I wanted the book to do.

    It wasn’t about telling my son what he should see

    The book wasn’t created as a medical resource.

    It came from a mother trying to find a creative way to help her child learn.

    I didn’t want my son to feel that his way of seeing the world made him wrong.

    I wanted learning to have another doorway.

    And the idea grew beyond the book

    The book was one part of the story.

    The larger idea was always about giving children opportunities to discover, imagine, learn, and create.

    Years later, that idea became the foundation for bringing KidsWonderArt back.

    Today, A Rainbow of Shapes is still at the center of that story—and the original idea is still important to me.

    If you’re here because of the book

    If the story behind A Rainbow of Shapes speaks to you, you can take a closer look at the book through the Shop page on this site.

    Visit the Shop to learn more about A Rainbow of Shapes.

    You can also explore the full KidsWonderArt story or visit Creativity & Learning for simple activities inspired by the original idea.

  • The Little Things I Didn’t Understand Before I Knew My Son Saw Colors Differently

    Sometimes the moments that make no sense at the time become the moments you understand most clearly later.

    Before I knew my son was color deficient, there were little things that happened that I simply didn’t understand.

    Looking back now, I can see them differently.

    The red hammer

    His dad is an electrician, and one day he asked our son to bring him the red hammer.

    Our son never came back with it.

    At the time, we thought maybe he wasn’t listening. Maybe he was busy doing something else.

    After we learned that he was seeing colors differently, we looked at each other and said:

    “Makes sense that I never got the red hammer.”

    That little moment suddenly made sense.

    My green hair

    Another time, my son looked at me and said:

    “My mom has green hair like my teacher.”

    My hair was blonde.

    He was seeing it as green.

    At the time, it was one of those comments that makes a mom stop and wonder what in the world her child is thinking.

    Once we understood that he saw colors differently, I realized he wasn’t making it up. He was telling me what he actually saw.

    The pink sky

    One day, my son made a picture at school. There was a person on the page and the sky was pink.

    I was working, and his great-aunt was watching him. When I asked why the sky was pink, he looked at me and said:

    “What you mean mom look its pink in the sky.”

    I remember saying, “Ah no baby, the sky is blue.”

    We eventually named that artwork THE SUPER NANNY. His great-aunt had been watching him, and they used to do all kinds of crazy things together.

    I had the artwork professionally framed, and it still hangs in my home office.

    We started asking a different question

    Those moments changed something for our family.

    Instead of automatically saying, “That’s red,” or “The sky is blue,” we started asking:

    “What color do you see?”

    That became our way of understanding his experience instead of assuming that he was seeing what we were seeing.

    Learning the names helped

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

    That gave him another way to learn colors. He could see a color differently and still learn what that color was called.

    I also taught him shapes, and I encouraged him to learn through creating.

    What I didn’t know then

    I didn’t know that these little moments would eventually become part of the reason I created a children’s activity book.

    In 2008, I created A Rainbow of Shapes.

    The book came from a difficult moment in my life as a mom, but creating it gave me something purposeful and positive to focus on. I wanted to help my son—and other moms and children who might be going through something similar.

    It wasn’t about telling him that what he saw was wrong.

    It was about finding another way to help him learn.

    Years later, I still think about those moments

    My son grew up. He still sees some colors differently, but he knows what those colors are supposed to be.

    And our family still asks him what he sees.

    Something that started as a collection of confusing little moments became one of the most meaningful lessons of my life as a mom:

    Sometimes you understand your child better when you stop assuming they see the world the way you do.

    Read more about the story behind A Rainbow of Shapes: The KidsWonderArt Story.

    Explore simple creative learning activities: Creativity & Learning.

  • 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.

  • How I Taught My Son Colors When He Saw Them Differently

    What I learned as a mom when I discovered my son was color deficient.

    In kindergarten, I learned that my son was color deficient.

    Learning that was heartbreaking for me as his mom. I kept thinking about what this might mean for him and how I could help him learn without making him feel like there was something wrong with the way he saw the world.

    I needed to find a way to help him learn

    Once he could read, I found something simple that helped us: I taught him to read the names printed on his crayons and markers.

    That gave him a way to learn what colors were called even when he was seeing them differently. If he was looking at a color and seeing something different from what I expected, he could read the name and learn what that color was supposed to be.

    I also taught him shapes and encouraged him to learn through creating.

    Then the little things started making sense

    Before we understood that he was color deficient, there were moments that left us confused.

    His dad is an electrician. One day he asked our son to bring him the red hammer. Our son never came back with it. We thought maybe he wasn’t listening.

    After we learned about his color deficiency, we looked at each other and said, “Makes sense that I never got the red hammer.”

    There was another time when my son told me, “my mom has green hair like my teacher.” My hair was blonde. He was seeing it as green.

    Those moments changed the way our family thought about color. We started asking him what he saw before telling him what we expected him to see.

    Creating helped me, too

    There was something I didn’t expect in all of this. Creating gave me something purposeful to focus on. Instead of constantly thinking, “My son has this issue,” I could put those feelings into something positive.

    I wanted to create something that could help my son and other moms and children who were dealing with color deficiency.

    That idea became A Rainbow of Shapes

    In 2008, I created A Rainbow of Shapes.

    The book brought together colors and shapes in an imaginative, approachable way. It wasn’t meant to be a medical book. It came from a mom trying to help her child learn.

    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 still the heart of why I created it.

    What I learned as a mom

    My son’s color deficiency changed the way our family looked at something as ordinary as color.

    More importantly, it taught me that sometimes helping a child doesn’t mean changing the way they see something. Sometimes it means finding another way to help them understand it.

    That small idea from 2008 became a book—and eventually became part of the story behind KidsWonderArt.

    Read the full story behind A Rainbow of Shapes: KidsWonderArt Story

    Looking for a simple color activity? Visit Creativity & Learning for free activities for little learners.