I had been in a mommy rut and tv watching had reached an ultimate high. Everyone was bored of escaping the summer heat by sitting in the house. So I came up with a BRILLIANT plan. I decided to be a "cool" mom and let the kiddo's paint. But not just get-out-some-paint-and-plain-paper-and-go-to-town paint. No, no. It was the real deal!
This is the day we started
Cokes and Canvas
First we chose our drinks. It came as no surprise that they wanted Dr. Pepper. We almost exclusively drink water, so when I let them have anything else.....it's almost always DR. Pepper that they choose! And being the "cool" mom for the day, I let them have it!
Next we chose our painting. I searched online for painting places that offer kids classes and let them browse. Of-course, no one wanted to agree. The dog won, but just barely. I was adamant about us ALL doing the same painting, just as if we were at an actual painting place.
After that, we decided what colors of paint we wanted. This was another fight among my little munchkins.
-"NO! MINE has to be pink!"
-"But MOMMY, I don't want MINE pink if HERS is pink!"
etc.....
Then we chose our music. Again, I gave them a list of stations on Pandora from which to choose. Surprisingly, Disney won without a fight. We instantly began singing to "Lion King" and "Tiana".
Finally, it was time to PAINT!!!! Everybody was very excited to begin! I stood in front of the kiddos and began to draw the ears of the dog. I explained that it did not matter how perfectly they drew and that no one's painting ever looks the exact same as someone else, and not to worry if they think they messed up because I could help them fix it. I know, I know. I'm so smart. They TOTALLY understand and matured so greatly from my speech, right? Wrong. It was almost instant chaos. TEARS EVERYWHERE.
-"I MESSED UP!"
-"Mine looks TERRIBLE!"
-"I can't do this!!!"
I tried to help. I tried to console. I tried to explain.
MORE TEARS.
The kids had totally lost it. They wouldn't listen. At.. All.
Finally my patience was too thin and I gave up.
Soooooo....I yelled.
-"GO TO YOUR ROOM!"
I let the kids quiet down in their rooms. Well, actually it was only the big ones. Myleigh was an angel. She just sat there, wide eyed. She held her pencil for a while and finally smiled at me. She was so patient...just waiting until the big kids decided to act normal again.
Once they had finally quieted down, I went in and apologized for yelling. They apologized for getting angry. We hugged and headed back to paint.
The rest of the time was super fun. They DID mess up here or there while painting......but had learned not to scream about it. I helped them along the way and we sang more Disney songs. It really was fun!!
I love how you can see the progression of each age. The kids loved personalizing their own artwork, Gracie re-did her collar about five times and Jakob made sure his dog tag had a "J" on it. Myleigh was just Myleigh the whole time, just happy to be part of the group and doing what the big kids did.
We are already planning our next Cokes and Canvas party.....hopefully this time without so many tears!!!!
