In
her magazine this month Martha Stewart shared how eager she is to bake and
craft with her grandchildren, who are 1 and 3 years old respectively. I’m
pretty sure my attention span and
attention to detail would drive Martha batty. Am sure it will go much better
with grandchildren under age 5.
There
are some things to remember about crafting with kids (or an ADHD crafter like
guru girl):
1.
You’ve got to value the experience, not the
result.
2.
You’ve got
to prominently display the result. Even if it’s questionable.
3.
You’ve got to embrace the shortcut. Hear that,
Martha? No churning of your own butter or plucking tail hair from your own
horse and braiding it into a Christmas ornament. I am not lying. This last one
Martha actually did this year. Tail hair plucking and braiding is too time
consuming to be fun. Plus the result is not at all sparkly, which is gonna be a
total deal breaker for any little girl crafter.
4.
You’ve got to spend more money. Yes, you can get
a gingerbread house kit at the store for $10. You have to assemble the walls of
this house with frosting, wait for them to set up and then curse under your
breath when they fall down.
All of this takes time. And you have to do it while
your kids rampage around the crafts table, whining about the wait and eating
all of the decorations. This is not a fun experience. (See the above pic of my grandma doing a retro gingerbread house with the Dynamic Duo. Note how annoyed even great grandma looks, as well as the number of Diet Pepsi cans she was using to try to stabilize the walls.)
Spend
more money on the kit where the house comes already assembled and ready for the
fun part: the candy decoration. Yes, the kit costs twice as much, but the
experience is twice as fun. And at the end of the day that’s what crafting with
kids is about: the fun time, not the 4 letter words uttered by the adult in
charge.
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