International Dot Day is a day to celebrate allowing children to make their mark on the world, no matter how small. Each year around September 15th, I celebrate Dot Day. Inspiration comes from the wonderful picture book, The Dot.

In this book, Vashti's art teacher encourages her to make any kind of mark on her paper for class. Vashti has been so uninspired and doesn't know what to do, so she makes one little dot. The next day she comes into art class, Vashti's teacher has framed her dot in a big, beautiful golden frame on the wall. Vashti decides that it's not even the best dot she can make! She quickly sets to work making all colors and sizes of dots, even making a dot out of the blank space from other dots. Soon, Vashti realizes that anyone can be an artist and make their mark, no matter how small they believe they are.

I love celebrating International Dot Day each year because it reminds me that, as adults, our children are looking up to us to see what we do. We have to be an encouraging voice for them when they don't know how to do that for themselves. Honestly too, who better to celebrate than the brilliant little minds surrounding us each day?

Peter Reynolds has done an incredible job of creating picture books for us to read to our children to encourage them to be what they want to be and to tell them that they can actually accomplish those dreams. People around the world join in this celebration each year, and I encourage you to do the same. Reynolds has even created a website where you can find helpful tools to celebrate, along with inspiration and other learning support, which can be found here.

We can encourage our children every single day to make their mark. Why not start with International Dot Day?