While You Were Napping...

Before I begin to read and sing Jack to nap each day, I often set Luke and Nina up with an activity that will keep them quiet long enough for me to actually get Jack to sleep while also encouraging my older two to stay focused enough that I do not come out to a mini-disaster.

Sometimes it works, and other times Jack’s settling down time outlasts Luke and Nina’s interest in whatever activity I have left them with. Those are the times when either insanity ensues or suspicious silence –punctuated by whispers and giggles – taunts me from the other end of the hall.

Such was the case the other day.

As I waited for Jack’s fluttering eyelids to finally settle into still slumber, I wondered what Luke and Nina were getting up to in the kitchen. They had had a “busy” morning, so I was glad that whatever they were doing had not degenerated into tears, teasing and the use of unkind hands. Still, I concerned about exactly what was keeping them “so quiet".

To my delight, once Jack was asleep, I discovered any fears unfounded. No major messes awaited me in the kitchen. Nothing was broken or defaced. In fact, what greeted were two children who had remembered to put on paint shirts before becoming completely absorbed in focused creativity:

 Face painting! 

As I witnessed Nina carefully applying color to Luke’s face, I smiled. The scene in front of me spoke of so many things:

• attention to detail
• fine motor control
• tactile tolerance
• creativity
• responsibility
• team work
• self-confidence
• independence 

What have your children’s self-directed activities evidenced for you recently?