I don't think the child's drawing of a stick figure, house and smiling sun is just "bullshit designed to get approval" though. I think they care deeply about th

I don't think the child's drawing of a stick figure, house and smiling sun is just "bullshit designed to get approval" though. I think they care deeply about the concept of mummy, and how mummy relates to various things especially them and have strong emotional impulses towards mummy. Learning that a stick figure is an symbolic representation of mummy that might meet with approval is a trivially small part of that intrinsic interest in mummy, not the extent of their engagement with the concept of mummy. And if you tell them you don't approve of their drawing, they'll burst into tears and possibly have a completely different attitude towards drawing and/or you, not just iterate on the bullshit. Similarly, the kid's concept of mummy being happy or sad is a bit more nuanced than which way up the crescent under the two dots should be....