Once the kids are absorbed in an activity, or tucked into bed, and you have a few minutes to yourself, I promise you’ll enjoy this laugh out loud book of wisdom from the author of the popular humor blog, Misadventures in Mommyhood. I had the good fortune to meet the author in person last weekend, and she is just as kind, down to earth, and funny in person as I imagined. Click here to preview/buy on Amazon.
I recently found this old home movie of my brother and I learning to roller skate and bike ride:
Sometimes we fall and get hurt. Aiming for perfection is unrealistic for all of us, but aiming to be the best we can be while enjoying the process is ‘perfectly’ doable. We want our kids to be resilient, and to understand that practice is required for proficiency. Struggle is often necessary before a skill becomes automatic.
We want to advise our children against doing what we feel will cause them pain. We aim to help them avoid making the same mistakes we made in our own lives. Remember that making a mistake is an opportunity and a portal to new ways of thinking. After all, we don’t learn to walk without falling. Falling helps us find our balance, and once we can walk, we learn to run. Once we realize it’s okay to make a mistake, we learn to problem solve and think creatively around obstacles.
Accept ourselves for who we are. Be fearless and soar with imagination.
We are along for the ride with our children….we are there to support them, and pick up the pieces with them.
In May, Pragmatic Mom opened a thoughtful dialogue about the challenge of parenting passion in kids. Please read her post here:
Teaching Perseverance to Children: Lesson from a Yo-Yo Champion
*As adults, we aren’t required to be perfect.* We are allowed to learn from our mistakes as we find success. My friend, Thuy Yau, author of Inside a Mother’s Mind, says it well in her inspiring blog post:
There is No Success Without Failure
Here are links to some of my favorite children’s books about making mistakes, self-acceptance, self-forgiveness, and treasuring our unique attributes:
I’m going to blame the 96 degree heat for my foggy decision making that led up to The Great Oobleck Disaster of 2013. I took the six year old I nanny, (I will call him ‘A’), to the park. We brought a bag of balloons to make water balloons, and corn starch so we could experiment with Oobleck quietly in the shade. Oobleck is a non-Newtonian fluid consisting of a suspension of starch in water. Check Wikipedia for the scientific definition and summary of viscosity and shear rate, but basically it’s a non-toxic goop that is A LOT of fun to play with.
Once all the balloons were popped and every child was drenched, ‘A’ decided it was time to start mixing the corn starch with water. Everyone, (with their caretaker’s permission), was having fun experimenting with the proportion of water to corn starch to achieve just the right consistency of the gelatinous oozing substance that is Oobleck. It was getting a bit messy, as the kids shouted about how much they were loving their “science experiment”, but it seemed okay in the name of learning, right? After all, corn starch is a safe substance that appears in many food products, (I’ll save the GMO/Monsanto debate for another post).
The messier it became, the more fun the kids had. The mess was a kid magnet, and as the kids experimented, they were cooperating with each other more than they had all day so far. I didn’t want to interrupt their new found camaraderie.
The Oobleck oozed. The Oobleck gelatinized. The Oobleck oozed some more. The Oobleck spread. The Oobleck caked on to benches, pavement, hands, clothes, rocks, and the park fence. Holy moly, it made such a mess. it looked like half the park was covered in dried glue. It didn’t occur to me until the damage was done that we weren’t equipped with the tools we’d need to clean up the mess. We had a plastic cup with us, and some newspaper. We needed a fire hose. I began hoping for a downpour of rain. The sun did not stop shining in the clear blue sky. The other children left the park. The mess remained. “A” and I looked at each other. We knew what we had to do. We started to clean. It took over an hour, as we carted single cups of water back and forth to Oobleck covered locales, poured the water and scrubbed with newspaper. Then we had to clean up a lot of soggy newspaper.
Fortunately, ‘A’ found the clean up as much fun as making the mess, and we had a good laugh about what a disaster it was. Next time ‘A’ and I will find a less messy substance to bring to the park, but I have to admit Oobleck was a blast. ‘A’ made new friends and a lasting memory, and took responsibility for cleaning up his mess. Sometimes learning is messy, and sometimes we don’t realize the consequences of our actions until the mess has been made. Growing up is about making discoveries. Here’s to Oobleck!
FREE Song Download:
Valentine’s Day is a great time to use music and art to encourage our kids to show their love for family and friends. When children feel confident enough to appreciate diversity, they naturally find ways to accept and include one another.
Here is a FREE download of Friends With You – a song about a friendship that blossoms across cultural and geographic differences.
ACTIVITY IDEAS:
TALK: Use the story in the song to spark a conversation. Share how you met your friends, and how your children feel their friends are the same or different from themselves. What does being a friend feel like?
DOODLE: What does the song inspire you to draw?
Meet talented artist, Haley Gatewood of Stick-Figured Out. She has vowed to draw a doodle a day for the all of 2013! She generously donated this charming image inspired by the song Friends With You:
By Haley Gatewood
Don’t forget some healthy snacks! (As featured on Woman of Many Roles)
“The only way we are ever going to ensure peace on this planet is to adopt the entire world as “our family”. We are going to have to hug them, and kiss them. And dance and play with them. And we are going to have to sit and talk and walk and cry with them. Because when we do, we’ll be able to see that indeed, everyone is beautiful, and we all complement each other beautifully and we would all be poorer without each other.”
Step 1: Download your FREE copy of Disco Donut Robot, along with 19 other FREE kids songs from Make A Discovery
Step 2: Have a Dance Party with your kids! Put up disco lights or a string of Christmas lights. Wear crazy colored clothes or costumes. Toss in some props to make movement to music even more fun, (scarves, hula hoops, sunglasses, etc). Add some percussion in the form of Tupperware and spoons.
Step 3: Play Robot themed games! Here are ideas from KidSpot.com.au:
Robot Freeze Dance: Have kids dance like robots and freeze when the music stops!
Robot Races: Have kids walk like robots (straight legs, stiff arms), and race to the finish line.
Step 4: Be inspired! Make your own Disco Robot using boxes and recycled cans.
Here’s one made by a five year old fan, using blocks, tin foil, M&M’s, and imagination:
Kids Music By Marcie 