My eighth grade daughter said she got "yelled at" in study hall for drawing.

I realize the definition of "yell" has changed since I was her age, but I understood.

"Why can't you draw?"

"It's against the rules. I can do homework, read, or write, but I'm not allowed to draw."

"Didn't you have any homework to do?"

"I had math, but study hall's not enough time to focus on it. I need to have a long period of time to get into the mindset for math."

This took me back to ninth grade. I sat in a large study hall and had no homework. I had already read all of the interesting-looking short stories in my English book and had nothing to do. I took out a piece of paper and drew the face of an adolescent. With a pencil, I harshly dotted it over and over, to make pimples on his face.

The study hall monitor appeared and told me to stop or he'd give me a detention.

I realized my mistake. The dotting was making noises that were disturbing my classmates. I apologized and continued my drawing in silence.

He returned a minute later with a detention.

"What's this for?"

"I told you to stop drawing."

"I thought you meant to stop making noise. I stopped that."

"See you after school tomorrow."

Back to my daughter.

I told her she needs to follow the rules, but that I agree with her.

Why is is acceptable to improve your math and reading skills, but it's not acceptable to work on your drawing skills?

Drawing is her interest. It is how she expresses herself. She has the desire to convey her thoughts and emotions in pictorial form. She's not great yet, but she's working on it.

I wake up before her every day. In my place at the table, I'll sometimes find her drawings. The drawings are puzzles that make phrases. The one on my place today has "~" and a grave. The answer is "Till death" (tilde + death - it also shows how she loves her Spanish class). My response was a plate with a mound of food, followed by #. It was "corned beef hashtag", like a Wheel of Fortune before and after puzzle. Between an adolescent and her dad, art is one of the few ways we can communicate and comfortably say we love each other.

I suppose I could make a stink about the no drawing policy, but I won't. I try to be as hands-off as possible and allow her to take control of her life (as well as not being "that parent"). If she wants to fight it, I'll support her and give her guidance, but it'll be her battle to wage. I know next year she'll be in a less draconian environment at her high school. But it's a shame that a little harmless drawing isn't tolerated, or even encouraged.

By the way, I never served that detention. I uncharacteristically blew it off and then worried that I'd get in bigger trouble for having done so. But, miraculously, nobody ever followed-up with it.