Painting with Children

I have a "bad mom" confession. I don't know what it is about painting, but I tend to lose my cool.

I'm by no means the super bestest mom on the planet, but I tend (try) to lean towards slightly mellow. Until the paints come out. Then I go completely coo-coo.

The mashing of paints into different paints, the soaking/bleeding/obliteration of said paints, the inability (or desire) to actually paint on the paper. Sadly, I have lost my cool more than once.

First I tried to paint with Izzie. That was a bad idea. While I was calmly creating she was creating havoc. Now she paints and I knit, or drink tea and try not to pay attention to the mess.

Where did this neat freak come from? I used to be a chaos cleaner/organizer. Where it landed, that's where it was meant to be. And now, not so much.

Yes, that is paint in her mouth. It's non-toxic.

Time to breathe. And time to let go.

First step, finger paints.

I know what you're thinking. Finger paints are so much messier. What you don't realize is that finger paints don't involve several tiny dried pots of paint, brushes and dipping water. Just paint and fingers.

It helps when you see the original super cleaner enjoying the mess of finger painting.

So I am grasping at my inner calm to help Izzie enjoy the fun of making a complete mess of things. And slowly letting go of the part of me that tries to be perfect at all times.

All a precursor for when we start with watercolour painting.