Crafting quality time

By Lori

I had an interesting conversation this week with a stay-at-home mom friend of mine. I was telling her about David the Turkey, who Emma and I made out of a pumpkin, some construction paper, toothpicks and a lot of glue. My friend said she and her daughter rarely do crafts, and she wondered if it was the difference between a stay-at-home mom and a working one.

Let me start with: I'm NOT a craft person. I don't hand make my holiday gifts, I can barely sew a button on (and they rarely look right when I do) and I don't stamp, knit or paint. But I have a strong desire to do those things with Emma. (OK, maybe not the knitting.) We have lots of free play time, too, but I organize a lot of activities. We're in a Gymboree art class (after more than a year on the Gym side). We regularly go to storytime at the library or bookstore. We frequent parks, take walks and bike rides and visit the zoo, local museums and lots of events -- parades, festivals, carnivals and so on. We do a lot more "social" stuff with and for Emma than we do for ourselves.

Would I do all of those things if I were a stay-at-home mom? Hard to say. I know I feel like I don't have nearly enough time with Emma, and I work to make the most of what time we do have. I think part of it is exactly what Julie was discussing about parenting style. I got very little of this kind of stuff, so it's really important for me to give Emma traditions and memories.

We are sort of slaves to Emma's schedule and routines. But it's so worth it for us to discover the world alongside her. Who'd have thought I'd get so much joy out of a glue gun?