A) Excite you -- the kids look so happy! They're having fun!
B) Depress you -- my mom never let me do that!
C) Bring back fond memories -- that's how I learned science!
D) Give you nightmares -- my inner Monica will never recover from the cleaning fiasco!
Remember, no breaking of the 9th commandment.
If you answered A, B or C, you are at a different place in your mothering journey (some might say farther along), and if you said D, you are a woman after my own heart. This cannot be said enough: I LOVE TO HAVE A CLEAN CLEAN CLEAN HOUSE. I genuinely love to clean, but only on my terms. I clean in a specific order in a specific way. Any deviation, and my inner control freak has a chance to be molded into the image of Jesus Christ even more.
Enter this book. I haven't actually read it yet. Does that matter?At our last MOPS meeting, there was a homeschooling mother of 2 speaking. She made us all laugh hysterically and inspired us to try new things....scary new things. Ooey Gooey things.
This mother named Suzie introduced us to a book called, "The Ooey Gooey Handbook" by Lisa Murphy. It talks to us about the importance of hands-on children's play, rather than learning from you, the computer/TV/video games, a book, etc. They need to actually feel and touch life. They need to get dirty, gain muscle instead of fat, develop hand/eye coordination and all that wonderful stuff we aspire for our offspring. We as mothers know this, yet we so often don't let them do activities along these lines.
This mother named Suzie introduced us to a book called, "The Ooey Gooey Handbook" by Lisa Murphy. It talks to us about the importance of hands-on children's play, rather than learning from you, the computer/TV/video games, a book, etc. They need to actually feel and touch life. They need to get dirty, gain muscle instead of fat, develop hand/eye coordination and all that wonderful stuff we aspire for our offspring. We as mothers know this, yet we so often don't let them do activities along these lines.
Why? Because it is not convenient for our merry-maid souls that don't want ONE MORE THING to clean.
(Darn it, I soooo love that excuse. What am I going to use now?)
Yes, we wives and mothers are practically slaves, though well-dressed, well-fed and well-loved slaves. Yes, we have ten gazillion other things to teach our babies, and we're tired and supposed to be sexy to our husbands at the end of the day when all of our other duties were executed flawlessly....kind of. But what Suzie said really struck a chord with me, because my mother was (unwittingly) an Ooey Gooey Mom!
She made us homemade playdough and silly putty. She dyed our food green on St. Patrick's Day. She shaped our jello into our names on our dinner plates. She let us finger paint and use body paint in the bathtub and modeling clay and measure out rice and beans into funnels and muffin tins that probably spilled everywhere...she let us make dough and use cookie cutters to our heart's content. And it was a ton of fun!
So inspired by Suzie and the Ooey Gooey Handbook, I've decided to throw a party. An Ooey Gooey party!
Stay tuned for all the sticky details.
(Darn it, I soooo love that excuse. What am I going to use now?)
Yes, we wives and mothers are practically slaves, though well-dressed, well-fed and well-loved slaves. Yes, we have ten gazillion other things to teach our babies, and we're tired and supposed to be sexy to our husbands at the end of the day when all of our other duties were executed flawlessly....kind of. But what Suzie said really struck a chord with me, because my mother was (unwittingly) an Ooey Gooey Mom!
She made us homemade playdough and silly putty. She dyed our food green on St. Patrick's Day. She shaped our jello into our names on our dinner plates. She let us finger paint and use body paint in the bathtub and modeling clay and measure out rice and beans into funnels and muffin tins that probably spilled everywhere...she let us make dough and use cookie cutters to our heart's content. And it was a ton of fun!
So inspired by Suzie and the Ooey Gooey Handbook, I've decided to throw a party. An Ooey Gooey party!
Stay tuned for all the sticky details.
Sounds super fun, count me in! I'm guilty of freaking out about messes too, but I'm trying to be better. Having to clean up afterwards is nothing compared to the joy of watching them enjoy themselves (and I usually get the best pictures out of those kinds of projects too!).
ReplyDeleteThat is the stuff nightmares are made of... NO THANKS!!! But maybe you and I can get together and lay out some plastic sheeting, you know the stuff used in murder scenes... then let the kiddos go to town. Maybe... probably not... but maybe...
ReplyDeleteno, yeah...i'm DEFINATELY a d on that one. i HATE messy, messes. i guess i'm not a fun mom :(
ReplyDeleteOh my word! The messy side of life might be the best side :-) You don't have to love it to let your kids enjoy it or learn from it. Jonathan was up to his elbows in pig hearts and lungs and that is how he learned anatomy in home schooling. And don't forget I picked night crawlers for a living when I was in a teenager. Good blog, fun and interesting :-)
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ReplyDeletei'm a mediocre ooey gooey mom. I try. but the trying is mostly outside...sure, play in puddles--skin washes. BUT DON'T paint with your spaghetti sauce PLEASE!! does that count? lol i'm so down for the ooey gooey party! and where did you get that book!? amazon didn't have it when i looked...
ReplyDeleteThey excite me! Oh my gosh. That looks like SO flipping much fun! Must put that on my list of things to buy for this summer! YAY for messy childhoods!
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