I’m regularly reminded that there is indeed a life purpose to my unique color daydreams beyond the crayons.  The reminder comes in the form of a huge challenge that always accompanies every “work at home parent”…

The Problem: how to keep the children entertained so work can be completed, or at least started.

“Why entertain them, don’t they just play?”, you ask. Well no, they never just play. They explore and investigate and experiment, yes. Play calmly for hours without direction, definitely not.

Let’s envision the scenario for a moment. Picture in your mind, completing a simple task such as writing a single email. Now add to your imaginary scene one child climbing the counter to find chocolate and discovering the salt and pepper shakers instead. Got the sand painting encounter pictured in your mind? Ok, now add the other child stealthfully bolting upstairs to paint on the wall… in toothpaste. (Toothpaste sparkles, that makes it a perfect medium for wall masterpieces, in case you were unaware.) I don’t want to say mine are little monsters, but regularly scheduled entertainment is required.

The Solution: the oh YAY, can hardly stand the excitement, “mom stuff”.

Mom’s stuff is those secret bins and drawers filled with craft and art supplies no one is supposed to touch without Mom’s permission.  I dig through and find all kinds of fun goodies, however I don’t give them specific projects, I simply give them the pieces and let them play. It’s amazing how little parts of art can occupy hours in a day.

Our current favorite “mommy is working” activity is a bowl full of magically fabulous colored rocks. Well, they aren’t really magical, but they are truly fabulous and there is magic silence they create. Technically they are called glass vase gems, those little blobs of colored glass, usually looking similar to smooshed marbles. You can find them at just about any craft supply store. I’ve even found these little stones in the craft section of walmart.

We take these glass pieces and count and sort and drop them into pans and bowls and listen to them clank and clatter.

My youngest will put them in tiny play dishes stirring and mixing them up, then dumping them out and starting all over again. They’re magical from my perspective. I pull out these little shiny gems and all of the sudden the house is calm for hours (other than the clinking of the glass stones, of course).

I never knew, before I had kids, that rocks were so entertaining!

The best part in this fun activity is the rocks are reuasable. You can use them for a different project all together or save them for another activity day. They come in a wide array of colors and a few variations in sizes. Just make sure the little ones are playing nearby so you can watch for that occassional flavor sampling. (These can be a choking hazard, so please be the mindful grownup and watch for flavor sampling).

What’s your  favorite “mommy’s working” activity?

Firstly thank you so much to Karyn for setting up such a fantastic site.  It’s exciting to be part of a project involving people going through the same joys, stresses, fun and troubles that I’m going through. 

I graduated in Illustration a long, long time ago and only made tentative attempts to work in the field before discovering that hitting the town and working in offices was far too much fun to avoid before settling down with a pencil in my hand.  I’m glad now that I did that but I felt quite sad over the passing years that my desire to draw seemed to have died completely.  I was surprised and excited last year when the artistic bug bit me so sharply that there was no turning back.  I discovered that I was pregnant with my fifth child.  I think that the thought of more laundry to fold and more meals to prepare made me determined to achieve something for myself.  Housework was taking over my life and I needed a good excuse to ignore it for a while.  

The excitement of drawing again made  me ridiculously over-eager and when our youngest was only two-months old I won my first commission to illustrate a chapter book (by putting in a very low bid for the job admittedly!).  It was pure hell but I was determined and pushed myself to the limits, starting work at 10pm (after preparing clothes and packed lunches for the children for the next day) and finishing at 2am most nights.  I was wisely told that this was a very dangerous precedent to set as it would be easy to slip into this sort of pattern of working.  I am now working on my second project, a colour picture book and having learned from my first project I have invested in a childminder for our baby to allow me 2 hours three afternoons a week while our twins are at preschool.  It’s amazing what I’m achieving in 6 unmolested hours.  For the rest of the week I have to fit in the scribblings between meals, housework, laundry and demands from a now 9-month-old teething baby!

I’m still very new to this world and I’m making my share of mistakes along the way so it’s a good time to be starting a blog here because I’ll be sharing my journey from the raw beginnings!  I look forward to reading posts from fellow creative Mums.

Lou

Tomorrow, January 26, 2009, the Year of the Ox officially begins!

To celebrate, I thought I’d turn my 2009 Kids Year of Ox design into a coloring book page that you can download with your kids.

About the Chinese New Year

Chinese New Year (or Spring Festival) is an important holiday for the Chinese people, and traditionally begins on the first day of the lunar month in the Chinese Calendar.

Origins of the Chinese New Year:

According to legend, the Chinese believed that on the first day of every new year, a mythical beast called, Nian (or “year” in Chinese) would rampage the countryside, devouring livestock, crops and villagers — especially children. To stop the beast, the villagers put food in front of their doors; they believed that if the Nian ate the food, he wouldn’t attack them.

They also discovered the the Nian was afraid of the color red, so red lanterns and spring scrolls were hung over the windows and doors to guard their houses, and firecrackers were used to frighten the monster away.

Eventually the Nian was captured by a monk, and he never troubled the villagers again.

The Year of the Ox

1901 - 1913 - 1925 - 1397 - 1949 - 1961 - 1973 - 1985 - 1997 - 2009

Roughly equivalent to the western zodiac sign of Capricorn, people born under the Year of the Ox are responsible, dependable and honest. They are very practical people and hard workers. With high intelligence and a caring nature, ox people make wonderful parents, and teachers of children.

Like everyone, they do have a darker side. Ox people can be pretty stubborn and sometimes possessive & materialistic. They definitely don’t like being told what to do! They might be inflexible and afraid to try new things. However, people born under this sign have the most beautiful faces out of all the other signs in the zodiac!

Download the 2009 Kids Year of Ox coloring book page now…

Click here for more information on The Year of the Ox.