The drawing It is the means through which the child expresses his emotions. If we know how to observe it, parents can interpret the child's personality, know what happens to you at any given time, and thus be able to understand and help you.
He tree test It is a simple and intrusive way for children (also young people and adults) to project how they see themselves and in relation to the outside world. So if you want to know your children better, you just have to ask them to draw a tree.
The child's age
The child's age is a very important factor when interpreting the drawing, since for the test to have any reliability the child must have already acquired the basic skills of the drawing, which happens at 5 or 6 years.
Doing it before could lead to misinterpretations. Perhaps, a child of 3 or 4 years would not think of drawing certain details or disproportions may have more to do with the low maturity of the perception of reality rather than with expressing an aspect of his personality.
What is needed to perform the Tree Test?
You will only need a blank sheet, a pencil, a rubber and if the child prefers colored pencils to color the drawing.
It is important that suggestions of any kind are not given to the child. Simply invite him to draw a tree, just a tree, to color it if you wish, without any external influence.
How to interpret the tree drawing
The tree test interpretation it's based on three main aspects that we must observe:
Roots and soil
The roots, being the ones that feed the tree, are related to affections.
Not all children draw roots to trees (at age 8 or 9 they stop doing so), but this does not mean that they do not show their affectivity through drawing. The way in which the trunk is planted in the ground can also give an idea of whether this consolidation is solid or, depending on the size of the trunk, can indicate affective fragility and need for protection.
Trunk
The trunk is the the child's perception of himself and self-confidence.
It tells us how the child looks. A solid trunk, well proportioned with respect to the rest of the drawing, indicates a safe, stable, emotionally secure, self-confident character. On the contrary, a weak, narrow, irregular, low or deformed trunk shows a weak, influential character, which fearfully faces an external world that is assumed to be hostile.
A strikingly thick trunk would indicate authoritarianism and aggressiveness, while a child abused or with significant emotional deficits usually paints a trunk with a hole in the middle to unconsciously symbolize his emotional emptiness.
Cup and branches
The cup and the branches along with its leaves and fruits if drawn, symbolize the child's contact with the exterior world.
They can be interpreted as the child's arms and his way of communicating with the world. If the branches are oriented upwards they are associated with optimism, while if they are directed downwards with pessimism.
If branches and leaves are drawn in great detail, it tells us about a creative, perfectionist.
If the cup is disproportionately large with respect to the trunk it can indicate some narcissism and vanity, if it is large it is related to the imagination and to an outgoing person, while if the cup is too small it is related to an introverted and shy person.
Other considerations to interpret the drawing
There are also other aspects to consider as the position of the drawing on the page and the size of the tree. If it is in the center occupying a large part of the leaf, with a wide trunk and a large cup it tells us about a child with a strong personality, while if it is in a corner of the leaf and is small in proportion to the size of the leaf , tells us about a withdrawn child.
The stroke shape It is also an important indicator. Continuous strokes of rounded shapes demonstrate a serene affective state, while interrupted strokes of broken and pointed shapes demonstrate tension, impulsivity and distrust of others.
In turn, there are possible traumatic indicators in the drawing of the tree, as for example, if the tree has no branches or leaves, branches cut somewhere in its trunk, knots or deformities, twists or breaks of the natural lines of the tree.
A clarification
Although it is a tool widely used in psychology, the analysis of tree test It must be complemented with other tests and assessed together. It is not intended from this to get a complete identity of the child's personality. You can even do the drawing of a tree now and within a few months that of a totally different one. It also depends on the particular moment you are going through.
It is curious that parents have tools to interpret our child's drawings, but at the informational level, as a guide, and to detect possible problems. In any case, if we notice something striking it will be a professional who should evaluate the child.
Photos | Siona Karen on Flickr More information | Emil Jucker Tree Test On Babies and more | Keys to interpret children's drawings
