Rethinking Erasers: They're Not About Failure, They're About Getting Better

Most of us were taught that an eraser is a way to fix something we did “wrong.” Spell a word wrong? Erase it. Drew a crooked line? Erase it. Didn’t like how the cat’s face turned out? Erase. Erase. Erase. But ... it's actually so much more.

I was thinking about erasers one day (yep, apparently that's something I do) and it occurred to me that most people relate erasers to negative experience. It's a red flag that says, “You messed up. You need to do better." The more you erase, the worse you feel. I've had some toxic relationships with big pink erasers in my past, and don't get me started on pencils who's eraser runs out long before the pencil.

Anyway, as an artist and an author, I erase constantly. And I’ve realized they’re not about failure at all. Every time I erase part of a drawing, I'm actually getting a chance to do it better. Every time I erase a word, I get to choose a stronger one, or at least write it in a way that's cleaner than before.

In art, this is obvious once you’ve seen it happen. You erase part of a sketch, not because it’s bad, but because you’re refining it; sharpening a jawline, softening a shadow, adjusting proportions. Each swipe of the eraser isn’t just removing something; it’s making space for improvement.

So, I carried that idea into my teaching. I started telling students, including my son, that every time they erase, they’re being given another turn. I taught them that erasing was a chance to try something new.

Honestly, making that small shift in their thinking changed their feeling about messing up. They didn't get as frustrated. They were less afraid of mistakes and failure. The eraser stopped punishing them and reminding them of their flaws, and started being what it was meant to be - a hand-dandy tool.

Here are a few more thoughts about Erasers:

Flexibility: Most kids are taught to think in terms of right or wrong. You either got it correct, or you didn’t. But when they learn to use an eraser as part of the creative process, they begin to understand that good work grows over time. That it’s okay to go back and change course. They stop asking, “Did I do it right?” and start asking, “What would make this even better?”

Visual Thinking: Using the eraser intentionally helps kids begin to see more deeply. They stop seeing the eraser as a delete button and start seeing it as a pencil that works in reverse; one that lets them rework what’s already on the page and really make it come to life.

Confidence: There is something incredibly liberating about realizing you don’t have to get it perfect the first time. Once a student understands that they can reshape and refine their work, they’re far more willing to take creative risks.

Permission to Play: When kids believe that every erased mark is a failure, they draw and write with hesitation or they try to avoid it completely. They grip the pencil too tightly. They overthink every line. They stop experimenting, and worse, they stop enjoying the process.

They start to play again. To test things. To change their mind halfway through.

And for homeschool parents and teachers, that shift is everything! So often, when a child says, “I’m bad at it,” what they’re really saying is, “I’m scared of doing it wrong, and I don’t know how to fix it if I mess up.”

So try showing them that erasers aren't about failure. Show them that every erased mark is just another step in making something beautiful, and see what happens.