Flipflops & Applesauce had a lovely, easy Counting Book project that I felt confident would be fun and educational for Violet. It involved stickers. It involved putting said stickers into a little book. It was right up Violet's alley. I decided to use this as a starting point for our fledgling Heathen Homeschool.
I stapled some card stock together .
I asked Violet to find me letter stamps. She produced the R for every letter I requested.
I watched helplessly as Violet placed the number stamps willy-nilly, off center and, in the case of number six, totally sideways. I took a deep breath.
We counted the stickers over and over again, until the number of stickers matched the number on the page. Violet started making funny noises and blurting out nonsense words at me.
We succeeded in doing 1-10, but the last five were kinda, sorta, sheer torture. Remember how when we were kids playsets came with sheets of stickers and you had to apply them yourself. Rugs, windows, pictures on the wall... all that stuff had to go in a certain place. Well, I was the kid who ripped that new toy out of the hands of another child, so that the stickers would be straight, free of wrinkles and in the proper place. It made my skin crawl to see liberties taken with the application of those decals. So, yeah, watching Violet put down stickers without any regard to order was a challenge.
I am constantly reminding myself to let my boys be who THEY are. They may have my DNA but I pray they don't get that perfectionist gene. I take a lot of deep breaths...
ReplyDeleteI feel that way too when my kids help me cook. We've eaten more than a few eggshells becuase "Mom, I can do it on my own!"
ReplyDeleteMy kids' art teacher always says about kids and learning "It's the process not the product" I keep telling myself that.
I remember from my own childhood, that there were never any stickers, except for when I bought a candy bar, that would have a rare sticker in it. I am definitely sticker deprived.
ReplyDeleteI love the counting book though. I think I'll do that with my son.
It's taken a lot of breathing and even more 'just not looking' to let things go. In the end, I'm always pleased with our daughter's creations. I've learned to love the imperfections. And yes, I'm a perfectionist.
ReplyDeleteIt looks like the challenge was a success, though!
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, I have a thing about sticker placement, too, but I've had to give up a lot of my anal retentiveness with 4 kids... It's a good thing, mostly.
Totally cute. And I hear you on the control freak do-it-this-way stuff...
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