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.

Parents are Human Too

Izzie fell.

Hard.

Bloody-nose-and-split-lip hard.

And while I held my screaming little one, I beat myself up. How could she fall while I was holding her hand. How could I take my attention away from her for a second! Sure I was looking for the entrance to the gelati place we were going to but I should have know she would fall. I'm a bad mommy.

And then I cut myself some slack. There is no way in the world I can have all my attention ALWAYS on my daughter. (Take now for example, I'm writing on the computer while she walks around the living room with a wooden toy. Who knows what horrors can come from that!)

And then I started wondering about our society. The pendulum has swung back so much that our society has put mothers under the microscope. Any mother who's child doesn't play like the others, who's child cries and has a temper tantrum, any mother who looks tired, frustrated or plain pissed off is a BAD MOTHER. And I'm as guilty as everyone else of judging other mothers.

Let's break out the high heels and pearls. It's the 1950's again...well, the entertainment industry's interpretation of the 1950's.

I think it's time we all cut each other some slack. Let's just do the best we can do and stop comparing ourselves to each other. And let's cut our parents some slack, parents are human too.