How was your week at the office? Off site meetings? Strategic plans? Dinners with clients? My week was intense too. In a different way.
I have spent this week with 9 eight year old girls at my Art Camp (www.artstudioforchildren.com). We have painted, sculpted and sketched. We have danced, swum, played games and done drama. We have chatted about what they want to be when they grow up, the funniest thing that happened to them this year, what they would do if they won a million dollars and how they feel about all manner of things.
There have been hurt feelings, misunderstandings, random acts of kindness, a dash of sulking and some serious whining. They don’t appear to like veggies, clearing the table or brushing their hair.They all speak at once and without breath or punctuation. Also, 8 year olds toot frequently-and unselfconsciously. One had lice, one had diareah and clogged the toilet, two were homesick, one sleepwalked, all giggled, everyone cried at one point. Except me. But the week’s not over yet.
I hired my friend’s 15 year old daughter, Caitlin, and she was good cop all week to my bad cop. I needed to give discipline, say no, be firm, get all the art projects completed and she could just be herself. She had a mini fan club by the 2nd day.
It is fascinating for me to see all their idiosyncrasies, what thrills them and scares them and how they have each come from a different family culture and have all been raised differently. It reminds me of the power we all have as parents. I see how lucky these girls are – they have so much love and choice.
I asked them what they thought made a great mother and here is what they had to say-
“I spilled nail polish on my bedroom rug and my mom did not get too mad”
“when you do something bad, they don’t scream at you”
“I used my mom’s best lipstick and squished it badly with the lid and she did not yell at me”
“my mom gives me mango”
“she laughs at my jokes”
“my mom was really nice to me when I broke my collarbone”
“my mom makes junk food -healthy-like homemade pizza”
” a great mom takes you to the candy store”
“the best mom believes you can do anything”
“when I come home from school and my mom has that baking smell waiting for me”
“when my mom comes home early from work , she is the best mom”
There you have it from my committee on all things important and beautiful.
awww – I love the mix from pizza to ‘believes you can do anything’….must have been a great week.