I can imagine that in nearly every community across our country there is a small business where you can paint your own pottery. While the idea of painting a ceramic pig may not entice you. If you are a parent- you must go! Get in the car and do not stop until you are in the door of this magical agglomeration of ecru color things, and when I say things I speak of mugs to little mermaids sitting on what appears to be a rock.
I took our daughter in to paint a mug for Adrian just before Christmas. I have to admit it was pretty fun. She took her time picking out the colors that she felt he would like and painstakingly went to work creating her masterpiece. This project is not for the faint of heart, as we were there for close to two hours. She was indeed very proud.
Today, whenever Adrian is at home and desires a cup of coffee, without hesitation he reaches for his mug and she beams very proudly, “I made that for you Daddy.”
Warmly,
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
That is certainly a very cool mug , I would be proud if I were your daughter too. Then again, my art projects never seemed to come out right as a kid — this might have been a gender thing 😛
Honestly though, I am always amazed how you and your husband always post status updates on FB about how you do all these activities with your children. I am wildly jealous, I worry I am not creative enough to find activities to stimulate my children properly. All too often instead of stuff like this we end up going to look at the toy store. I wish I could work more things like this into my schedule.
In my opinion, you should write more about this type of stuff, I know a lot of people would be interested (myself included) in ideas for projects and events with their children. As a newer parent I frequently resort to the “known things”. IE: I know they like the park, or the toy store so that’s where we go, and I feel I am lacking some of the creative aspects like this. Granted, my children are younger than your daughter, and I’m a more inexperienced parent, so maybe that will come with time.
Thank you for your encouragement Adam. I will definitely write more about these adventures.
Of course it will come in time. Be patient and allow yourself grace as you will most definitely come into your own as a father. The activities you share with your child have to be age appropriate for her, but even something like this can really be done at any age that they can grasp the paint brush. Fortunately, the paints that are used today are not toxic compared to when I was a child. My mother wanted to do this with me, but I was highly sensitive to the fumes of the paints used.
When Heather was younger, we went to the area children museums a lot, and by a lot I mean once to more times a week. She loved it and you could tell that in her mind she owned the place when we were there.
Projects and activities don’t have to take a lot of time, and can easily be squeezed into even the most crazy of schedules with a tiny bit of planning. The bigger actives we partake in are usually a weekend adventure.
While I am thinking of it; I am sure that your art projects were just fine, in my humble opinion it is more important for kids to be given the opportunity to create and use their own mind. The outcome is not as significant as the process.
Warmly,