Colourful!

One of the things I struggle with as a mom is to spend time doing things with my kids. I am always with my kids, but that doesn't mean I am doing something with them. I am usually quite content to be busy throughout the day, cleaning this up, putting that away, wiping this down, reading my book, folding laundry, making lunch/supper, bake, you name it. And for the most part, I usually have a 3 foot high partner doing these domesticated things with me. And I love that.

I do "drink" my fair share of hot chocolate with one marshmellow and eat the mud cake that was baked for me but not while dropping my doekie (cloth, for you non-dutchies) that was wiping down a cupboard.

But it struck me a while back as to how often I am asked by this 3 foot high partner to help her: to read a book, or to paint, or to colour, or do a puzzle. And it really made me aware of how often I said "Not right, now, hon." or "Keziah, can't you see my hands are busy?" (which, by the way, came right back at me one time when I asked her to help clean up the toys :o).

I think I know why I struggle with spending even 10 minutes a day doing an activity that she chooses. The easy answer is: I am lazy. I don't always feel like it. And to blame house cleaning is not an excuse. It's not like my house is sparkly clean either. I think the deeper answer is this: when we adopted Keziah, I parented her like she would be my only child. Not in the spoiled way that you would think (at least, I hope I didn't spoil her rotten), but in the "you are going to be independent and not look to me for entertaining you" kind of way. I counted on her being an only child, not knowing if it would be in God's plans to bless us with another little one. And although it was in God's plans to bless us with another, I still parent her the same way!! I wanted her to learn to play by herself, to be content to be on her own and not to cling to me as her only playmate.  I feared entertaining her all day long and then when I needed to get something done, she wouldn't know what to do with herself. I wonder if that is one (of possibly many) reasons why moms send their kids to juniour kindergarten....because by the time our child is 4 we are tired of entertaining them since we've done it from day one and now the child doesn't know what to do and so we say they are bored. Hmmm. I'll leave that can of worms alone. For now. :o)

For the most part, I think that it was good to do this, to encourage this independency. However, I think I have taken it too far. Although I don't believe in dropping everything the moment your child wants to do something, being at his/her beck and call all day long, I am recognizing that the way I've been doing it needs changing as well. And with the "longer" days of cooler weather ahead of us (meaning, inside the house more), I am praying that I may be able to make some changes in my parenting. I know I will fail miserably at this but that isn't a reason to not even try. And so, by taking it one day at a time, I am tackling this challenge, leaning on God for patience and enthusiasm. And she gets the benefit! And I am finding out, so am I!! It's a win-win situation!!

And so this week, we made colourful rice. It's really nothing extravagent or "new under the sun" as you will find oodles of links on Pinterest as to how to make this. (make THAT your challenge: make it just to say you finally used one of the 100s of ideas pinned to your boards on Pinterest :o) But maybe you've made Colourful Rice already. Actually, so have I, but many years ago for my students. But if you haven't, try it! Your child will love it! And so will you because after spending time with them making it, you'll have time on your own to dust that shelf or clean that toilet because your child will be spending a lot of time playing with it :o)

First off, ingredients: rice, food colouring, and rubbing alcohol (or vinegar)

Oh, and don't forget to add in your excited helper! Afterall, that is the goal: to spend time with her :o)

Mix 1 tsp of rubbing alcohol, 1 cup of rice and drops of food colouring into bowl and stir (I used 2 tsp of rubbing alcohol for 2 cups of rice):

Once well stirred, lay out on parchment paper and let it dry for 2 hours or so:

Tada!!!! I almost didn't let her play with it because I liked the design the colours made in the bucket. But then I remembered it was for her :o)

Throw in some measuring cups, measuring spoons, rice krispie moulds, little containers, whatever you can find and watch how much fun they'll have with such a simple thing of pouring rice from one container into the next:

And by all means, don't just let the 3 year old have fun! Put some in a little container with a sealed lid for the 9 month old to shake around!

You may find rice on the floor, but let me tell you, sweeping up dry rice is SOOO much easier than with cooked rice. So really, it doesn't take long to clean up. I have found over the last days of play, that for easiest clean up, either play with it outside, or on a mat if inside. That way you can just lift up the mat and pour back into the bucket.

And to keep things in perspective, for fear of you thinking "Good for you, Michelle!! What a great mom you are!" let me share with you what we had for supper that night:

That's right. Hot dogs. I was hoping the roasted broccoli would redeem the fact that we had hot dogs. I don't think it quite made it. Oh well. We enjoyed it all!! :o)