day one craftless cupboard.../getting your kids to help

DAY ONE of craft without a craft cupboard

oh what a day...Sunday, day of rest...not so in our busy household. Its packing/cleaning sorting day :), or so I told my three cherubs this morning. This news was of course meet with glee and "oh yes we'll help!".....hmmm not quite but nevertheless it HAD to be started today. So daddy heads outside and leaves me with three disgruntled ( putting it mildly used) children.Jared decided to go watch daddy mow the lawn, Amahli went down for a sleep ( SHE WHO WOKE AT 6.45AM YAY!!!!! A SLEEP IN!!!!) 10 minutes into my kitchen blitz I hear " Mum, Im so bored!". (This from the child that played for 40 minutes with two pencils and a ruler that she had somehow turned into a wicked witch, a horse and some random child who was riding in the forest). "go find something to do" said I as I rattled off a list of things she could do, a puzzle, read a book, draw... nope nothing sounded " fun". And so she followed me around the kitchen heavy intermittent sighing, "I'll just wait..." hmmmm...
So armed with the wet washing and a ball or wool I told her I had something fun to do :). I strung a line of wool three strands think between the clothesline and the trampoline, gave her her own lot of pegs and a pile of clothes. And away she went :) Actually she really enjoyed having her own responsibility and was very proud of herself when it was done. Its a great thing when you can find something that helps a child to feel proud of themselves, its a great noost to their self esteem and makes them realise that they can be helpful in an "adult" way.... plus the bonus for me is that shes learning a skill I can milk for all its worth until she realises that actually is a horrible job!!
Jared came and hung two things up and declared " nah, not me" and went back to watching dad mow the lawn.

And so, off she skipped ( yup hanging out the washing will do that to ya) to find something to do...
She comes back 15 minutes later ( no joke I am still hanging out my lot of washing) with the molds of my teeth from the dentist and the food colouring jars. Oh the things you find when you start emptying a house :) Shes also found some paintbrushes and can she paint them? Sure why not???

After that it was a bit of light gardening with Nanna, ( goodness knows how we would have done all we did today without Nanna and Grandad and their love for all things gardeny!),

a walk to the so-close-to-finished house, play in the dirt and home for a bath and bed.

Now, what to do tomorrow???? Maybe I should tackle laundry mountain which Amahli can decimate in about 5 seconds by pulling whatever is closest to her.. best game in the world Mum :)