Few things can even come close to the joy felt of raising lovely kids. When your kids are polite, try something new in earnest, laugh with you or appreciate you for trying to give them your best everyday, it is incredibly heartwarming. Knowing you’ve had a hand in raising these lovely kids is a wonderful thing.
It’s a nice idea for kids to decorate pottery. It’s a nice way to let them be creative and have a lasting memory of it. Pottery decorated by kids can be both lovely and useful.
We had a pottery place just around the corner from our house when the kids were very little. I hadn’t really noticed it before kids. And even with kids, I probably didn’t see much value in it. But then I went once with the kids to make a gift for their Mom’s birthday.
Although it was at times challenging to get the small children to decide on, focus and complete the items, it was worth it. They really enjoyed the process. In addition, they liked the idea of making something for Mom.
Even though we couldn’t get the finished product for some time, when it was ready, it was great. We ended up spending a fair amount of time and money in that shop over a few years. With that, we acquired quite a few pieces of designer pottery that we often used.
We often used pieces every day. However, through a combination of moving and being extra careful with these irreplaceable items, we stopped using them. That was until now.
Roxane got a big decorated plate out for dessert serving yesterday. It was great to see and use it. The kids even compared the size of their hands and feet on it too.
Pottery decorated by kids is a lovely, lasting gift to yourself.
What three things do you wish for your kids to be? After all the education, training and experience, I’d like them to be curious, confident, resilient kids.
The way I see it, you need to be curious about life. The more curious you are, the more you will find out about things. You will learn, engage, meet people, have fun and develop more quickly as a person.
As all these new people, situations and aspects of life are being discovered by their curiosity, they should, and will need to, grow in their confidence. The greater the experiences the more likely they will gain confidence. Additionally, helping them gain confidence from a young age is an important element of raising children. Letting them try and fail. Allowing them to make mistakes and supporting them throughout with strong messages of support.
Finally, there will be moments that knock them back. Physical situations, nasty people, relationships ending and goals missed. All of these are possibilities. And, although as a parent, I don’t want them to encounter any hardships, I know that is unlikely to be the case. So I want them to develop resilience so they can be knocked down and get back up. Whether it is once or 53 times, I want them to be ready and develop an ability to stay cheery and bounce back.
Curious, confident, resilient kids – that’s the goal.
What do they do? Where do they go? When will they get home? Will they spend more time in the park? How do things work when the kids are off school?
So most children are off school now in the lead up to Christmas. By most accounts they have at least 2.5 weeks from now before going back to school in January. What will they get up to?
Some might have a little Christmas shopping to do. Others may have some cards or gifts to make. Then they will have Christmas Eve merriment. Then obviously they will be fairly well occupied on Christmas Day.
A few of the older ones will be interested in the traditions of New Year’s Eve. Then four days later many will do final preparations to get ready for school, which for many will begin on the 5th of January 2021.
Ok, so what about all that time in between those few moments of being occupied? That is almost two weeks where all the schools are off and the students might be ‘at a loose end’.
Well, with lockdowns, social distancing, Tiers 1, 2, 3 and 4 and a variety of travel restrictions announced, there may be less going on than usual. So this year there may be more local walks to break up the hours of gaming, screen time, movies, board games and learning about finances and goal setting.
When the kids are off school, help them with some practical skills.
