It was always amazing spending DIY time with my daughter. It all started when she was a toddler and later when she was a preschooler. Teacher’s day, valentine’s days, children’s day we had amazing fun making stuff. Infact halloween school celebration was our favourite weekend. I wrote blogs about it.
She is almost 10 now and I realised we don’t do it anymore. That realisation hit me when she asked if she could borrow my fabric glue. I asked her what she wanted it for, when she replied she was trying to make clothes for her ragdoll.
First time using fabric glue, everything is a mess. Everything sticks to the wrong thing. So I asked her to wait until I finish up my work. So I would be able to help her. In reply to that she informed me that she just needed the glue and I wasn’t quite required.
My daughter don’t give a fair shot to the general pleasantries. She likes to get straight to the point. I am contradicted about my feelings about it.
Any other times if she had asked me to help her in any craft on a weekend I am sure would have hated to waste a perfectly good holiday.
But as she didn’t need me I had to get involve. What does she mean she don’t need me! Whatever happened to mother daughter time.
So I started helping her. My mother was too busy working when I was a child. I had to figure things out on my own. By now I am aware of all ways a DIY can go wrong.
As I was telling her the idea of how we can make it. And what she can do to help. I saw her expression all bored and small. I remember we had made some quick school projecs with her lately and she didn’t even liked them.
I totally hijacked her project! No wonder she didn’t want me anymore. I was rushing too much to actually notice it. She wasn’t my tiny baby anymore, she was a girl with her own ideas. Maybe I already know it might not look as she imagined but she didn’t know that. She has all the rights to make her own mistakes and realise it.
So we made with her rag doll dress with her ideas and had tremendous laughs. There was zero planning and we ended up wasting a lot of material. But it was super fun. Don’t take me wrong, I am not asking to waste time and resources. But invest your time in their first hand experiences in failure. It might be more fun than actually making anything nice.
It’s already too difficult for our kids generation to have their own experiences. With YouTube and Pinterest in handy it’s hardly trial and error anymore.
I am sure the 1000 unsuccessful attempts by Edison for making a lightbulb made the 1 successful attempt more worthwhile.
Parenting has always taught me something new everyday. Here is to making horrible ragdoll clothes, enjoying Mother-daughter time and experiments in real life.
With love – Sanyukta.
Sanyukta Stargazer 