Spring Break Pursuits – Designer Jewellery

Did you have an appointment diary when you were 6 years old? Me neither. But times have changed and how!

Spring break is here and with holidays come play dates, craft dates, movie dates, sleepovers and overnight trips. If all this in just about a week’s time sounds exhausting to you, hold your breath, these are notes from a little girl’s calendar!

Yes, my 6 year old is busier than me this week, squeezing up to 3 events a day to attend. Of course the events she has to go to are IPMW meaning; I PLAY, MOM WORKS. So while their moms have more on their hands planning for and working towards play dates, organizing craft activities and taking them to movies and trips, all the girls have to do is get dressed and show up, unless of course you count having fun as work.

I love to organize stuff to do for my daughter and her friends but am careful not to go overboard with it. I understand that planning an activity is more fun for the kids than actually doing it. So here’s how it works – if kiddo asks “Mom what are we going to do with my friends for spring break”, I ask her “what would you like to do” and give her a couple of choices. She picks up jewellery making this time, so we get in motion shopping for jewellery kits, snacks, paper plates and cups and the plastic cloth to work on. Next she cleans up her room on the day of the planned activity. She also helps with putting snacks and plates on the table.  And then, she just can’t seem to stand the wait. From peeping through the window to hearing imaginary door bells ring, she anxiously waits for her friends to arrive. The first one to ring the bell gets the loudest welcome “yippee”! After which every guest is received by a group of giggling girls, the group size getting bigger with each arrival.

When everybody’s turns up, the materials are all put in the center and the activity commences. Now here’s the tricky part. If you assumed that the girls would make their own stuff with great interest and co-ordination, which they are actually very much capable of doing, you are going to be in for some disappointment. They need help, not because they can’t do it themselves but because they lose interest in like 2 minutes! So then that’s what moms are there for. We sit with them, help them cut the thread, slip in beads occasionally and try very hard not to correct them when they insist on coming up with weird combinations and patterns. I must admit here that for us moms, it is very difficult to just sit there and not make the perfect piece of jewellery with all those beautiful beads. We remind ourselves that it is supposed to be fun and not perfect and as long as the girls are having a good time, it doesn’t matter. The competitive spirit in us has to be curbed down now and then. By the end of it, since we keep it short, simple and sweet, the girls are happy and proudly pose for us adorned with handmade designer jewellery.

And even before we put the remaining beads away, they are gone, back to what they had really gotten together for – playing!