Parenting is exhausting. It’s no secret that once you have kids, time you had for things you enjoyed previously dwindles to next to nothing. The work-life balance becomes more of a work-sleep balance with hopes of a little time for, well, anything at the end of the da… let’s just say week (although sometimes it’s more like month, it all goes by so fast!). So if you want to squeeze in a little time for a project or two, sometimes you have to get your kids involved. And when you do, you may find that, not only do you manage to accomplish a thing or two, but you get to share something you love with someone you love. And let’s face it, it always makes a gifted piece a little sweeter when you can tell (insert family/friend) that your little helped out.
While you should never plan to accomplish much, here are three ways I’ve managed to get in a little work while entertaining my munchkin.
Sewing
I have a toddler. She’s awesome. She loves to play with Mom’s colorful spools and bobbins. The first time I let her play with them I was a little leary, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that it was probably a great opportunity for her to learn her colors and to work on her fine motor skills. Putting a spool on dowel can be difficult when your hand-eye coordination skills aren’t honed (try it after a few glasses of wine if you need proof, or an excuse to drink a few glasses of wine). While she busily takes the spools off the spindles, hands them to me, puts them back on, rearranges the colors, etc., I’m usually able to get in a few stitches. It also gives me an opportunity to work on some baby signs with her (“Can you please hand me the blue one? Thank you!”)
Writing
When I decided to pick up writing again, I didn’t imagine it would be so difficult. Finding time to write is a challenge. Getting up well before the sun isn’t my favorite and I’m generally exhausted and brain-fried by 8 pm, so the end of the day isn’t great either. Fortunately, I work four days a week and can take advantage of that one day home to sit at my daughter’s drawing table and scribble in a notebook next to her. Is it efficient? No. Is it legible? Barely. Coherent? Not particularly. But again, it gives me an opportunity to hang out with my kid, be creative, get a few notes down on paper, and it’s a great opportunity to teach her colors and the alphabet.
Organizing
Again, there’s nothing incredibly efficient about taking on a task with a toddler around, but do you have any idea how much fun it is to spill chaos out in front of a small child and let them play in it?! I’m mainly thinking of my fabric stash and button collection (I wouldn’t recommend trying to organize your exotic knife collection or college papers with them), but if you show them what you’re looking for and a place to put it, kids can be pretty helpful! In the instance below, I told my daughter that I wanted all the beads in a specific jar (there were a number of beads intermingled with my button collection). She did REALLY well until a few too many of the round ones rolled away and she lost her patience, but she marveled at the buttons until naptime — putting them in jars and dumping them out — and couldn’t wait to get at them again when she woke up. I like to make sure a small, controllable amount of chaos remains available for her to play with after I’m done and then organize it away when she’s no longer interested. (Side note: Buttons can be choking hazard, so if you let your little at your button or bead stash, please do so with caution.)
I know inviting your little into your (crafty) get-away might seem a little crazy, especially if you’re a bit of a control freak like myself, but if you’re willing to relinquish a little control, the benefits far outweigh the costs. In addition to being able to share a few moments doing something you enjoy, you may also find that playing in the chaos inspires you into nap time, allowing you to be more productive in your work when you finally do have the time to dedicate.
How do you involve your littles in your personal interests and tasks? I’d love to hear about it below!
—Funky Crunchy Mama
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