After a week of having either no internet or no computer (our 7 year old computer finally gave up the ghost and now I compose this on my new laptop, which is sadly only 13 inches. instead of a luxurious 17. Boo.) I've decided that instead of chatting about some wonderful activity we did, I shall share what After School Time is really like.
Brace Yourself.
Just before dinner, my oldest decided he NEEDED to make 10 large glittery, sparkly, numbers. Fortunately, I was able to explain to him that he needed to wait until after dinner by pointing out that if he started gluing he would have to stack his sticky papers in 5 minutes when it was time to eat.
I barely caught my breath when dinner was over before he DECLARED that he NEEDED the craft supply box. I then tried desperately to start cleaning up after dinner (at least I had made him clear his dishes) but of course his younger brother, who MUST do everything his brother does, declared demanded whined that HE needed to make gigantic sparkly glamorous numbers, too!
Now one of the reasons I don't do complicated crafts with my kids is because it is tons of work and chaos for ME. For my younger son, I basically had to do everything except stick on the collage materials, but even then he was whining loudly about how they wouldn't stick, or how they got stuck to his fingers. Or... WHATEVER.
So, I am running back and forth between the kitchen, the table, and the closet, fetching God Know What for this project while the kids are having some complicated impromptu festival involving googly eyes and glue sticks. I had hoped that the younger kid might spend at least a little time sticking things on each number but each time I drew him a 7 or a 5, or whatever, he was done and demanding the next number before I could even think.
When big brother asked for glitter glue I put the brakes on. Do you know how long that stuff takes to dry when you pour it out in globs? I was not going to have 20 pieces of paper strewn all over the table for a week.
And then big brother started having a melt down because little brother took one of his numbers away. Little brother's response to this was to laugh maniacally (yes, maniacally) and reach for another one.
Oh God, the horror.
I asked my oldest son what he planned to do with these numbers once he was finished. "Put them up on the wall for decoration."
Oh, really.
I convinced him that his high quality art would be better served stacked and stapled in book form.
However, I shall tell you that these lovely, glamorous, oh-so-important numbers now lie forgotten in a toy bin.
And they are not even stapled together.
So how was your After School this week? Calm? Relaxed? Do tell me about it.
Christy says
Ha! I love it! I can relate.
MaryAnne says
You know I love crafts, but we don't even own glitter glue, due in no small part to its slow-drying properties.
I let my kids put their pictures up all over the walls on our house, much to my husband's chagrin. And sometimes even mine - I made them move their Halloween pumpkins to their own room, but now it's mid-January and they refuse to take them down. I'll have to be a mean mom and make space for all their other stuff sometime soon.
This description is exactly why, while we do crafts, they are very rarely structured...
Jessica says
Oh--I love it!
I love the honesty...I am so tired of reading slick, polished accounts of people's interactions with their kids.
And, oh...I can relate to something being of utmost importance and ending up in the bottom of a bin or moving from surface-to-surface with no real home!
Raising a Happy Child says
Mwa-ha-ha. In our family all the big ideas also happen about 5 minutes before dinner. Usually distraction tactics work well, and we have a rule of no major projects after dinner. But the part of what happens with the projects after they are done is very close to our house too.