Raising Kids that Craft (or not)

YES! yesyesyesyesyes! :) Sorry, I just couldn't help it. And there are some things that people insist on teaching children and teenagers that they can live without, and even live really well! Honestly, if your child never memorizes the periodic table of the elements (just an example) life will go on and most likely nobody will ever hold it against them! Frankly, if you're an adult who demonstrates their deep knowledge of this table (not that there's anything wrong with knowing about that ) without possessing a corresponding career in chemistry, people are likely to back away slowly, with a very puzzled expression on their faces. And have you ever had to listen to music played by a child who doesn't want to play it? Not an enjoyable experience...

We're having our own little group art/craft session this morning, and I'm looking forward to it :)

Renee, have you read Lori Pickert's book or blog on Project-based Homeschooling? Many of the ideas that you share here remind me of PBH. I, too, have been striving to supply my kids with a lot of materials, space and time to create. It's been quite fun! The boys especially love the modeling clay I bought them!

My girls craft all the time but there is NOTHING that makes my girls happier than sitting down at the dining table to craft with me. As soon as I pull out a little project, they are settled at the table eager to join in. This has been the case since they were toddlers and now they are teens. It's a tradition that "gathers" us as a family.

So important to remember that the 'learning window' doesn't close at 18! Life is full of opportunity, for us and for our children. We craft/create often, but I find that at times my joy for it wains due to the mess of it all. I need to keep at it though and remind myself that tables with glue stick residue and paper bits on the floor have little to do with me (and my worries about a clean house) and a lot to do with who my children are becoming. An extra five minutes sweeping the dining room or the straightening up of an art area are small matters in comparison to the joy, growth, and confidence my kids have gained making 'the mess' :D

It may be sacrilege to say this but you don't have to give your children the perfectly well balanced and well rounded upbringing. In fact, trying to do so would be impossible because none of us are perfect.

Amen to that. No wonder I'm so stressed and tired, believing that it's all my responsibility to ensure the children have access to anything that they show an interest in. I certainly wasn't brought up that way and I have no regrets or issues with it. I've still found ways to learn what ever I have wanted as adult and honestly I think the things I haven't learned are because I don't really want too.

cheers Kate

This is soooo important and homeschooling families need to hear this over and over and over again: you don't have to give your children the perfectly well balanced and well rounded upbringing!

Thanks for another great piece Renee!

I felt like I had dropped the "crafty" ball as they kids got older. But I recently realized again the benefit of even just letting them "make messes" when they scratch my own creative itch. My girls spent the last couple years tracing pictures they liked out of books, and making them into paper dolls. The amount of little scraps of paper caught in the rug on a constant basis drove me nuts some days. But I just asked them to help clean up (again) and let them keep going. Now, suddenly, they are drawing amazing characters free hand, complete with lifelike shading. Drawing isn't something I really enjoy, but just keeping some supplies on hand, and the freedom to make a mess (without grumbling about it) has allowed them to pursue their own thing, and excel at it!

My kids all pursue music- the girls studying piano more formally with me. But now also my son, who did not want to study piano with me, has begun to learn from videos how to play a variety of things. And begun recording and arranging his music. All without input or help from me. They are all excelling in their own musical way.

I didn't have to "get it right." I just had to give them freedom. Phew- I can do that! :)

Lovely to see the book is such a succes. Love from the Netherlands! Marian

We just got done hanging ornaments that my husband and inlaws crafted when he was a child in Chester N.J.

Oh I LOVE LOVE LOVE this. As a high school student, I feel I have little time to pursue all of the many many things I love and have an interest in. Certainly, I do a bad job making time for those things. It is wonderful to be reminded that as I go forward in life my time for learning and for doing the things I love (and perhaps don't have time to do...) will not stop. I really need this reminder, as I constantly overbook myself because there are so many things I am passionate about. A good example is that I wanted to sign up to be a counselor to women who have been raped. It was an amazing opportunity to learn a lot and help others but it had a 10 hr/week training!! ...and I have 4+ hrs of homework/day, train for long distance running 2 hrs/day, am in school 7 hrs, run a volunteering club, have miles long reading lists (which I never get to), am doing an independent study on AD/HD and education, lead bimonthly backpacking trips with students from my school... and favorite pastime is water coloring, collage, and writing handwritten letters.... and I wonder how I have no time to do these things. Anyways, that was a long way of saying that I am grateful for this post. This post (and all of your blog, really) reminds me of the Alan Keightley quote: "Once in a while, it really hits people that they don't have to experience the world in the way they have been told to." We are told that we should be "fully formed" people by the time we graduate from university... but perhaps I should interpret fully formed as simply meaning generous, kind, confident and curious.... and able to grow!

As always, an encouraging and thought-provoking post. Thanks, Renee! I hope you have a fabulous birthday!

Learning really does happen at any age. I've been studying painting with a master painter in mid-coast Maine for 2 years. I'm in my mid-forties and determined to become a master painter myself. I love the challenge. Much more amazing are the majority of my classmates. They probably average 63 years of age. We have several people in their 70's. They study hard. They are full of energy and they do a great job. They have proven to me that learning doesn't ever need to stop!

Thanks you for this post. It is just what I needed to hear. Lately I've been feeling the need to loosen our schooling schedule and put in time for Christmas crafting. Maybe it needs to stay loosened! Thanks for the reminder that it's not all up to me, I know that in my head but maybe not in my heart. And it's so true that learning never stops, it hasn't for me!

Thanks so much for this post! I'd like to add, along the vein of lifelong learning, that we are in a great position to model this for our children. All the things you do NOW, that you never thought you would do, all the things that you are learning NOW as an adult...that makes a huge impression on our children.

After suffering so much frustration at my talented daughter's reluctance to practice violin, I decided to channel my frustration into getting my own violin and taking my own lessons. What a wonderful thing it has been! I love playing the violin! Has it changed my daughter's practice habit? No...but I believe she is learning something important about being a life-long learner by watching me struggle through twinkle, twinkle, little star...and then move on to beautiful Appalachian fiddle songs.

You are always inspiring!