I so totally want to be THAT Mom. You know, the one who says, "Relax... let them play... it washes... they're just having a good time... you can just vacuum it up... kids will be kids..." Yeah, HER. Well, (as Julie and Laura know) I am so NOT HER.
But this time, Jack was asking for Play-
Doh, Little Brother was asleep and I had a huge load of data entry to complete for the church. Perfect.
I left him with just four cans of Play-
Doh and muttered these famous last words: "Can I trust you not to swirl them together or make a mess? Just do your best." "Yes, Momma," he assured me. I trust him. He doesn't like getting messy any more than I do.
About 35 minutes later he came to me, all proud, "Momma, come look at my beautiful rainbow!" I followed him, envisioning four long different-colored snakes laid carefully next to each other to make a rainbow.
Here is what I saw when we got to the kitchen...
Oh, no he didn't!
Oh, yes he DID.
Not four cans swirled together... but
T-W-E-L-V-E. I hadn't put the Play-
Doh basket high enough. How courteous of him not to bother me and just help himself to eight more cans. I had to take a deep breath and contemplate how to react. Was this curiosity? Artistry? Disobedience? He was so happy, "Isn't it beautiful, Momma? It's bigger than my face! Look Momma, it's bigger than my face
and my whole two hands!"
I hadn't said, "Do NOT mix these together, do you understand?" I had not checked in on him and he had been unattended for a good 35 minutes. He is just four years old. Is this to be expected of a 4-yr-old? Is this disrespecting his things or making art? I didn't really know. All I did know is that I had better grab my camera. After all, I had to e-mail pics to Jeff.
As usual, I decided to go with the Natural Consequence method of parenting. I explained that he had made a choice to mix them all together, and that he would have to play with it like this for a long time. He said, "That's okay, now I have twelve cans of rainbow Play-
Doh and I
love 'em!" I said, "Okay, you made a choice, so I am glad you are happy with your decision."
We put them all back into the containers and neatly back into the organized Play-
Doh bin for next time. (For a Mom who hates picking little pieces of Play-
Doh out of the crevices of our Play-
Doh tools, you can imagine how much I hated picking out
nasty brown swirled up pieces.) I knew good and well when it was time to play next time he would be disappointed, but he'd learn. One thing was for sure: This Momma would NOT be buying new Play-
Doh for a very long time.
So, the next morning... Yes, the
VERY NEXT morning, we went to Jake's second birthday party.
Guess what the party favor was:
Seriously, you can't make this stuff up.
6 comments:
Ha, that's funny stuff! I'm being very careful not to let Autumn see this blog b/c she would definitely be making it all rainbow next time. I'm surprised she hasn't thought of that yet actually!
Even funnier that the party favor was new playdough. What are the odds?!
I can just hear Jack saying "It's bigger than my FACE!"
That's my creative nephew! Of course we do NOT mix Aunt Mel's because I only have one kind at a time that is soft enough to play with anyway!
He will get a spend the night during spring break, I missed seeing him this past Monday night.
you, my friend, crack me up. :)
i heard or read somewhere that when you say "don't x" to a kid, or anyone for that matter, they tune out the "don't" and just hear "x." LOL!
It's all about perspective, dear. There are so many things he did NOT do with all that playdough. I wonder what Davis will do with 12 cans of playdough.
Your mom is right. And I can say that 'cause my kids would have done so much more than that with 12cans of play-doh (and do quite often). As a matter of fact, Dwaine decided today that we need a pressure washer to remove all the play-doh bits that are ground into our patio.
Yet I still LOVE the stuff (outdoors of course) because of those 35 precious minutes. Also because of all the creativity, artistry, and learning that is occuring while they play with it.
Warning- my kids don't seem to mind the ugly brown/grey color. They just keep right on playing and creating.
He can always get his play-doh fix over here if it gets to be too much for you. In your defense, it really is messy stuff.
Post a Comment