The Back-to-School Busyness Trap

As we head into August, you’re either in the height of summer holidays or diving into the back-to-school busyness. Where I live, the school supplies are stacked in store aisles, schedules are filling up, and that familiar sense of overwhelm is creeping in for so many I know.

If you're noticing your child's creative spark dimming as academics ramp up, you're witnessing a classic “Crankyfurter”.

What's a Crankyfurter? It's any wedge that drives itself between ourselves and creative pursuits—it could be our inner self-critic and perfectionism or external influences like bullies, disapproving teachers, or rigid school systems that don’t allow for creative freedom.

One of the worst offending Crankyfurters?

👹 Overpacked schedules—the classic “Back-to-School Crankyfurter”.

Especially the kind that says "Art is just a hobby—focus on the 'real' subjects."

Did you know that for most of my career, I was actually an English teacher? I taught reading, writing, and literacy—you know, one of the “real subjects”.

I only became an art teacher when I realized how many children were following my own unfortunate path earlier in life—losing their creative spark as academic pressure mounted.

I know this Crankyfurter well because it stole 20 years of my creative life.

And after teaching in schools for 15 years, I saw it stealing the creativity—and love of learning—of thousands of students.

When their love of creating things disappeared, so did their love of learning.

What I've discovered is that this is a false choice. Art doesn't compete with academics—it completes them.

See, I was a straight A student.
I worked hard, studied a lot, and impressed my teachers and parents.

But there was just one giant problem.
I didn't actually learn that much—I just learned how to play the game and cram before the big exams.

I had stopped making art.
But I also stopped reading.
I stopped being curious.
I became more perfectionist and self-critical and afraid to take risks.

This pattern repeats itself for millions of families this time of year.

As schedules fill with academics, creativity takes a backseat.

Here's what's crazy though...

What many parents don't realize is that by prioritizing traditional academics at the expense of creativity…

they're actually undermining the very academic success they're aiming for.

The Academic Power of Art: What the Research Shows

Art isn't a distraction from "real learning".

Research consistently shows it improves academic performance:

• Reading and Math Excellence: Students who engage in arts-rich experiences tend to perform better academically, particularly in reading and math (National Endowment for the Arts, 2012).
• Critical Thinking: Students involved in the arts show higher levels of critical thinking skills (Catterall, Dumais, and Hampden-Thompson, 2012).
• Higher Graduation Rates: Students with high levels of arts participation had dropout rates five times lower than those with low arts participation (National Endowment for the Arts, 2006).
• Better Test Scores: The College Board reported that students who take arts courses score higher on the SAT compared to their peers who do not participate in the arts (2012).
• Growth Mindset: Students involved in visual arts education demonstrated greater resilience and persistence when faced with challenges (Burton, J. M., Horowitz, R., & Abeles, H., 1999).

In my years of teaching, I've witnessed firsthand how children who maintain their artistic practice stay more creative and achieve higher academic success.

In short, they are the most curious. And the most curious, are the best students.

When I think of them, I also know that they will thrive far beyond the classroom.

Meanwhile, the overstressed kids fighting with their parents over grades and homework every night--or the ones who get panic attacks before every "big exam"--likely will struggle the most.

It broke my heart seeing this in countless kids, and I only wish more parents and skills realized the following:

How Art Strengthens Academic Skills

Here are ten ways that art strengthens the academic skills everyone covets, while keeping their inner curious child alive in the process:

1. Develops Fine Motor Precision & Stamina

When children draw with intention—holding pencils, refining lines, or coloring within detailed shapes—they’re strengthening the fine motor control used in writing, typing, and science labs.
(Cameron et al., 2012; Grissmer et al., 2010; Sortor & Kulp, 2003)

✏️ Watching an 8-year-old stick with a 45-minute drawing tutorial builds the same stamina and precision they’ll use when writing essays or solving equations.

 2. Strengthens Creative Thinking

Art invites kids to think flexibly, experiment, and generate multiple solutions—all core skills for academics. Whether they’re inventing a creature or choosing how to solve a composition issue, they’re building the creative mindset needed for interpreting literature, solving math problems, or forming scientific hypotheses.
(Hetland et al., 2007; Winner et al., 2013; Golomb, 2002)

🧠 Kids who learn to "see differently" in art become more confident, independent thinkers in all subjects.

3. Builds Focus and Persistence

Finishing an artwork takes patience, attention, and perseverance—all forms of executive functioning that impact academic success. Art provides a joyful, low-stakes way to practice these vital mental muscles.
(Diamond & Lee, 2011; Zelazo et al., 2016; Posner & Rothbart, 2007)

🎨 Kids who finish a drawing through frustration and correction are also learning how to revise essays and solve tricky problems without giving up.

4. Strengthens Math and Spatial Reasoning

Through drawing, children explore geometry, proportion, symmetry, and fractions—but also develop spatial reasoning: the ability to mentally rotate, visualize, and manipulate forms. This skill is crucial in STEM fields, especially engineering, where students must design and navigate 3D spaces on 2D surfaces (like blueprints or architectural layouts). As they plan compositions or construct forms, they’re also building creative problem-solving skills by deciding how to depict, arrange, and adapt their ideas visually.
(Uttal & Cohen, 2012; Newcombe, 2010; Nath & Szücs, 2014)

📐 Learning how to draw cubes in perspective or balance a composition trains the same spatial and design thinking engineers use every day.

5. Boosts Memory and Retention

When kids draw what they learn, they make content stick. Art taps into visual memory pathways and strengthens recall.
(Wammes et al., 2016; Cohen, 2009; Paivio, 1991)

🧠 Drawing is a powerful form of encoding—students often retain more when they illustrate a concept than when they only read or hear it.

6. Builds Language and Literacy

Describing, interpreting, and telling stories through art grows vocabulary, sequencing, and narrative structure. When children explain their drawings or write stories about them, they’re developing key literacy foundations.
(Eisner, 2002; Golomb, 2004; Parsons, 2015)

📚 Art gives kids a reason to speak, write, communicate visually, and become compelling storytellers.

7. Fuels Critical Thinking and Decision-Making

Every artwork is a series of choices. Children constantly solve problems like: What comes next? What’s missing? How do I fix this mistake? Art builds strategic thinking, adaptability, and creative problem-solving, which are vital across all academic domains.
(Hetland et al., 2007; Jensen, 2001; Winner & Hetland, 2000)

🔍 The same mindset used to troubleshoot a tricky drawing helps kids revise a rough draft or rethink a scientific hypothesis.

8. Teaches Emotional Regulation and Self-Control

Art offers a safe outlet for frustration, perfectionism, and big emotions. It teaches children to sit with discomfort, reframe mistakes, and find satisfaction in progress. These are self-regulation skills that directly support classroom behavior and resilience.
(Goldstein & Winner, 2012; Catterall, 2009; Beloglovsky & Daly, 2015)

❤️ A child who pushes through “I messed up” in art is developing the inner tools needed to persist through academic and real-life struggles.

9. Strengthens Social-Emotional Learning

Art fosters empathy, collaboration, communication, and perspective-taking--skills linked to emotional intelligence.
(Thompson, 2015; CASEL, 2020; Goldstein & Lerner, 2018)

🗣️ Sharing and discussing art--and developing original characters with back stories and imaginary worlds-- builds the ability to consider alternative perspectives.

10. Inspires Curiosity and Joy in Learning

Art keeps the joy of discovery alive. It allows students to wonder, explore, and learn in open-ended ways that reignite motivation and curiosity.
(Robinson, 2011; Engel, 2013; Catterall et al., 2012)

🌱 Kids who are excited about learning new art skills tend to stay engaged in school, ask questions, and develop a love for learning that lasts.

Signs the Back-to-School Crankyfurter Has Arrived

How do you know if the Crankyfurter has infiltrated your home?

Watch for these warning signs:

• Your child's schedule is so packed with "important" activities that there's no time for creative exploration
• Drawing and other creative pursuits are treated as rewards only after "real work" is done
• Reading for pleasure has disappeared along with art-making (curiosity and creativity go hand in hand)
• Your child seems more stressed, less curious, and less enthusiastic about learning
• Your once-creative child is showing increased perfectionism and fear of failure

Banishing the Crankyfurter: Practical Steps

The good news is that you can fight back against the Crankyfurter and help your child maintain both their creative spirit and academic success:

1. Treat art as essential, not optional. Schedule it into your routine with the same priority as other subjects. Don’t make it only a reward they get to do when the “homework is done.” This inherently treats it as inferior to the “real subjects”.
2. Let them doodle. Successful creative people often doodle in the margins, daydream and imagine stories, get lost in other worlds (and create them). They often got in trouble at school for it too. I did.
3. Create a simple art space that's always accessible, not tucked away for "special occasions." The less friction there is to getting started, the more they’ll create.
4. Value the process and playfulness over the product. When children feel free to experiment without fear of criticism, they develop the growth mindset that powers academic resilience.
5. Share your own journey—in art and beyond—including struggles and breakthroughs, to normalize the creative process and living in our imperfections.

Back-to-School Reflections

Art keeps students' curiosity and love of learning alive.

My worry for so many kids around this time of year is that their schedules get overloaded with so many academics and extracurriculars that their imagination takes a backseat.

And even their academics ultimately suffer as a result.

When we preserve children's artistic practice during the back-to-school rush, we're not just saving their creativity—we're setting them up for deeper, more meaningful academic success.

We're teaching them to explore, not just comply; to create, not just consume. To stay curious, not just cram for the big exam.

So as the school year begins and the Crankyfurter threatens to wedge itself between your child and their creativity, remember—

Art isn't just a nice break from academics; it's the secret ingredient that makes real learning stick.