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Mom... There's nothing to do!
Are
you doing so much for your children
that they don't know how to
entertain
themselves?
As a parent, do you feel obligated to fill every single moment
of your child's life with something interesting and special
for them to do?
Are you afraid that if you don't have your children in
swimming, skating, piano, dance, baseball, soccer and foreign
language classes... all at the same time... that they will get
bored?
If so, I know how you feel. But today, I’m going to share a
personal story with you that will reveal some of the benefits
of why it is important to sometimes allow your kids to come up
with ways to entertain themselves.
This story is based on my own real life experiences as a
professional artist working from my home, while also raising two
young kids at the same time.
One of the reason's I like to share these types of stories
(besides being able to pass along practical information that
might be helpful for you), is because they allow you to get to
know me better as a person. And this will give you a better
appreciation of my unique Look-What-I-Drawed style of
creating legacy childrens wall art.
Less can Sometimes
Be A Good Thing. |
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There are tons of advantages to kids being involved in lots of
organized activities. They learn how to work on a team; build new
skills; respect rules; develop good work ethics; stay out of
trouble; and avoid boredom.
But if you over-schedule your children into too many things, there
can be downsides too.
I know some kids who are in so many organized activities that they
haven't got a clue what to do with themselves on their own time... so
they become bored very easily.
A bored child at a young age can be a pain in the you-know-what. But
a bored teenager can become dangerous! So how do we teach our
children skills on how to entertain themselves while they're still young?
I have been a work at home mom the whole time my children have been
growing up. However, even though I'm always around, I am often too
busy to constantly be entertaining them.
Running a small business from home can be hectic so I’ve not been
able to enroll my kids in as many extracurricular activities as I
would have liked.
This had me feeling guilty for a time...
thinking they may end up at a disadvantage compared to their more
active friends. That is until recently...
You see, I have a large craft room/studio filled with all kinds of
fun supplies. Often while I am painting, the kids are right in the
room mucking around and making stuff themselves.
The rule has always been that they have to be able to entertain
themselves without distracting me too much. This works most of the
time.
Lately I have come to realize that because my kids have not been
over-scheduled with classes and sports and stuff, they have gained
some unique advantages over their peers.
My kids have their own hobbies. Willow loves to draw, sew and play
with her stuffed puppies. She even started her own successful
business selling gourmet dog biscuits called
Willow’s Wonderful Woofies.
My son Fisher also knows how to keep himself busy. He is constantly
building Lego and K’nex, drawing pictures and writing stories. He
sometimes has to be stopped from making things when its past his
bedtime and he’s got out the scissors, glue and a big stack of
paper!
Now don’t get me wrong, my parenting skills aren’t even close to
being perfect. In fact my kids sometimes get mad at me because I
don’t have them more involved in organized activities.
However, they seem to be turning out as pretty great kids with a
high degree of ingenuity, creativity and independence. Food for
thought. |
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