Quality Activity Time

Yesterday, Le Foo and I spent our first OFFICIAL hour of activity-time together.  Her behavior has been needing some tweaking lately, and my wise mother recommended setting aside one hour each day to spend time doing an activity of Le Foo's choice (unless of course it's nice out; then it's a given that we get outside to the park).  This probably seems silly to some, but as a mother who stays at home and takes care of virtually everything household related, and then some, it is easy to lose sight of your number one priority; YOUR CHILD.  I find that I spend my days, while she is at school either working on cards, or tending to our home.  When I pick her up, we come home, and I head for the kitchen to begin preparing dinner.  We eat together, and then she plays for a bit or goes to get ready for bed, depending on the time.  I LOVE cooking, but also must admit that I do often, get so caught up in making meals that take some time to make, that I forget that there are simpler dishes to prepare, leaving more time for Le Foo to get the attention she needs.  And, really, what is one hour out of the day?  If one hour of attention means an evening with significantly less managing and disciplining my child, then one hour I will give.  Last night I could see a change in her behavior.  It was pleasant to be with her--after we finished the activity, I made dinner and she planted herself on the floor, right outside of the kitchen to color and chat with me.  She was content and so was I.  I'm sure this won't work everyday the way it did yesterday, but I to try take this child-rearing thing one day at a time.

I repurposed an empty jam jar for this project.  I soaked the jar in hot water to remove the label.     The empty, clear jar was pretty as it was, but I figured we could make it a bit more "kid pretty" with some tissue paper and watered-down glue.  So, last night, we chopped up a bunch of tissue paper, in every color I owned of course, and set to ourselves to the task of covering the jar.  Although the jar was small, we managed to work on it together, in peace.  It was fun and Le Foo was so excited when she was able to handle just a little while after we had finished it.  The whole thing probably took us under an hour to make.  It was also great timing, because in school, she had just finished learning about recycling, the mantra being "reduce, reuse, recycle" (which she already knew about from the Curious George soundtrack by Jack Johnson)