Friday
Sep192008
A Test of Control Issues (or Something)
I think we have pretty much established that I could give a rat's hiney if Alexis plays with "messy" artsy craftsy stuff. I drag out the finger paints, leave open access to crayons and markers, and encourage the chalk. I've been known to help her paint her hands to make hand-prints, I absolutely join her in coloring everything in sight, and have no problem letting her do about anything short of taking a bath in permanent marker. As long as it's washable, I'm all good.
However, it has come to my attention that not everybody sails in the same ship as I do. So, does this make you go -meh- or make you want to go screaming for your mommy?
Friday, September 19, 2008
Reader Comments (39)
I hope that when I'm a parent, I can be like you on this. My mom was that way, or at least I can't remember a time we weren't allowed to do something because it was "messy" (there may have been times, but she didn't say it was for that reason, you know?). And, exactly. It's washable.
Now I'm planning to be a teacher before I'm a momma, so hopefully I can be a teacher like that, too.
First, I love the stripes! Very Cat-In-The-Hat or Pippi Longstocking. Absolutely adorable.
And I'm a full believer in messy. Messy promotes active, free-reign creativity.
Plus? Boys, when they're little, tend to not want to bathe. :)
Messy is fun!!! Freddy paints his body as well as mine. As long as it's washable, like you said!
anything but something that your body creates is fine with me!
I love messy.
I'm fine with and encourage messy as lopng as it's not at mealtime. That drives me nuts.
Getting jelly out of fine toddler hair or disengaging the molecular bond rice krispies make when they dry to anything is not my idea of a fun time.
I'm fine with crayons and markers. Chalk is fabulous. But I did hesitate a bit with paint- I don't mind it on my kid, but she tends to get it on everything else too. Well, not so much anymore, but when she was younger. That is just her 'grown up' paints though. Anything washable is fine. And boy does she love craft time!
I cover the kitchen table with a large, black garbage bag and let them have at it. However, I absolutely abhore Moon Sand. It's evil. Pure evil. I let them do it (if they ask), but boy, do I hate it. Moon Sand makes Play-doh look neat. Other than that, we're good. Chalk itself makes my skin crawl, but we still do it. It's just the feel/sound that gets me. Not so much the mess.
I've always been of the school that kids make messes. Your job, as a parent, is to clean it up or teach them to when they're old enough. Mess = fun.
Kids need to get messy! It is how they learn - how they explore the world around them, and the mom's who won't let them get dirty are doing them a disservice. That being said, I still hate glitter. Glitter is not my friend.
Love everything. Though it does get overwhelmingly messy with five and homeschooling them. Seems like my house is always in a state of chaos. But I do like to see them getting creative with their art supplies. Except when they play 'wedding' with glitter and toss it at each other. Glitter in the hair (or Moon Sand in the hair) is not fun. Or a toddler biting the tips off markers and sucking the ink out of them. Hope their non-toxic label really means NON-TOXIC.
Mess and kids? That's the way it's supposed to be. You can't stem the tide, so you may as well splash in the waves.
Look, I had to ban sidewalk chalk right after my two and three year olds (as they were at the time) decided to decorate my brand new van. And it ended up looking like someone hated me enough to key my minivan. Not nice.
Love messy play! It's part of my oldest sons therapy because he can't tollerate anything being on his skin so we try to encourage it whenever possible!
Try shaving cream! It's a messy-clean, can be wiped right off and an added bonus is that the toys that they use in the shaving cream get cleaned. Hot Wheels cars are a hit but I don't suppose you have too many of those! It's also great for practicing "writing" letters, shapes etc with their hands.
I am a control freak in many ways. But outside with chalk? Meh - have at it. That said, we don't have crayons or markers in our house yet. When she is older I will enjoy coloring (on paper!!! not walls) with her. Finger paint strikes fear into my little heart. Sorry. If it can be done outside then I'm all for it. Inside stuff makes me nervous.
I'm an artist. The best projects always involve a mess.
She looks darling. I love the expression on her face.
I love letting the kids get messy, play with fingerpaints, markers, chalk...
I have friends however, whose children are not allowed to play with any of this stuff. It is strictly crayons only. How Boring, right? :-)
Kids are messy, it's part of life and it's so fun to get in there with them :-) Party on mama.
the only thing that made me want to curl up in the fetal position was play-doh. HATE HATE HATE play-doh.
or however you flippin' spell it.
That totally makes me wish we had blacktop, cause chalk just doesn't look quite as pretty on white concrete.
And, yeah, as long as a bath and Magic Eraser can solve the mess, it's all good.
Ummm. Depends. If we're about to go out then it's an issue. If we're home and they're just going in the bath before bed, I let them all be messy.
I also think it depends on the number of kids you have to clean up and after. When you've got three, the mess they make of themselves and things can get REALLY big. And the Mom's can get REALLY tired.
Totally depends. Chalk? NO PROBLEMO! I don't care if they bathe themselves in the stuff. It's CHALK, for cryin' out loud.
Markers...well, I prefer they keep the ink on the page, but I know it's going to end up on their hands and I can live with that too.
Paints? WHOA, Nelly! HOLD UP. I do NOT do well with the potential for that sort of mess. It is at that point that my OCD kicks into high gear. I put out the colors...don't you DARE mix them! Heavens! You'll make a mess...and then all you'll have is a brown smear that resembles poop! I MUST draw the line at paints.
Now, The Girl likes to paint her nails. I make her go outside for that because if I SEE how messy she is when she does it, I'll lose my crap!
Life it too short to care about a little paint, crayon, marker . . .
like you, as long as it is washable. No biggie.
Plus, the look on his face simply can't be beat when he is creating a "masterpiece."
I love how Alexis is coloring her foot. That is awesome . . .
As long as you own a garden hose, it's all good. ;)
The messier the mess the funner it is!!! ;o)
The messier the better is our motto! Alexis looks like she's enjoying herself!
totally 'meh' :) I think getting messy is fun! My sister on the other hand has a COW when Maggie eats dinner or something and gets it on her face. Which is of course ALL THE TIME and IMMEDIATELY. heh So we like to egg her on and make it even more messy, just to drive Aunt Michelle crazy :)
Beign creative will always be a messy prospect. Creativity & the loving of it obviously runs in the genes over at your house(along with the big heads). Now I gotta know..do you get irritated when she tries to chalk over your pretty rainbows??? *S* My Sissy's 9 & she's still not out of this cover-yourself-in-it phase...just warnin' ya. She's like some kind of tornado. Good thing you luv it. She also, in a fit of creativity, cut almost every hair off head except two long chucks in the front because those were the ones she could see. I nearly fainted.
I like messy. My friend doesn;t let her son play with markers or playdoh. Weird.
I think it looks like fun, especially seeing the foot and hand prints you can leave all over...
I'm the mother of boys, that's mild. But what makes me want to go screaming for my mommy is the chalk on my skin. I cannot stand the feel of the stuff. It freaks me out when I've gotta pick up the chalk Micah dumps out.
GAH!!!
Well considering Amy spent yesterday drawing on herself (and various bits of paper) with oil pastel, I think chalk is pretty tame. Good fun though!
If it washes out, I'm happy.
That particular scene is fine by me. Now if she were sitting in your living room, covering herself (and everything else) with fingerpaint I might just break out in hives.
Doesn't bother me a bit. It's chalk! I've had kids cover all exposed flesh in marker. That's harder to wash off than chalk, even when it's "washable."
Mr. Clean Magic Erasers are excellent for getting crayon and marker (even non-washable) off the walls, but can be hard on the paint job. That's when all the markers went to live on top of the bookshelf with the glitter glue, scissors, and vodka.
Oh what fun. Looks like my kids at that age. And up till about 12. The Hunny? Drives him freakin' nuts.
My youngest (20 months) draws on herself ALL THE TIME. Its cute. Heck she drew on my preggo belly too, hubby's leg, heck my walls have been decorated nicely. Its called a washcloth (for the adults) and a magic clean eraser. If kids can't experiment, they're going to grow to be dull adults. Nuff said
My mom was SO not that kind of mom. There was almost no kid craft stuff around. Hell, I wasn't even allowed to do Play-Doh after a few times because it made a mess (even in the kitchen).
It sucks. I'm totally going to throw Sumo in the mud and let him eat it.
That's a awesome idea! I think it's totally cute. AND my hubby and I were just talking about doing paint handprints of the Pumpkin. I thought briefly about the mess, and we decided we'd do it outside before bathtime. Problem solved.
I love it, I can't wait until Chicken can color!
I LOVE IT!
Just keep in mind that what begins as chalk-as-body-paint becomes cheap nail polish body paint in just a few years. (btw, "water soluable nail polish" is only water soluable on skin--nails, cats, dogs, furniture and clothing are not skin.)