A can of paint for the kids

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A new, huge, wall filled with chalkboard paint.

I’m saying it is for the kids, but it is totally for me.

I used to have about 15 different family pictures on the wall cluttering up our main hallway, and as much as I love them, they needed to find a bigger space then a narrow hallway. Time to simplify.

I just finished reading Simplicity Parenting by Kim John Payne… and it really had me thinking. I don’t align with all of it, because I deeply feel that kids are a lot more able to self-regulate then he gives them credit for. Top down parenting is absolutely not for me, and he does tend to veer in that direction.

But there were many many gems that even an unschooling, free learning homeschool family like mine could benefit from. One was to reduce clutter. Reduce the quantity of toys and clothes and foods that are out at any given time. Start them in rotation. I liked that idea for the toys, but I loved that idea for the food. The old fashioned “roast on Sundays, pasta on Mondays, soup and salad on Tuesdays” mentality is rockin’ it at our house.

Not that we have to have the same pasta dish each Monday. Some Mondays it will be roll up lasagna, sometimes pesto noodles, sometimes chicken alfredo over linguini, etc… but always some variation of a pasta meal.

This change isn’t so much for the kids (although once they notice the rhythm, I think they’ll appreciate knowing what is coming for dinner) but it is so much easier on ME. And damn if that isn’t the bottom line once in a while 🙂

So back to the paint… mama needed a bit more open free space, and dreams of a wall with nothing but a chalkboard danced in my head. A wall I could write the day’s menu on. A wall I could write my to-do list on, and thrill as it gets checked off. A wall that the kids could make comics on and decorate with drawings for special holidays. A wall that would be free for any form of expression. Two coats of paint later, the kids got first crack.

Clara wrote a comic strip immediately… and Miles? He he used his freedom of expression to tell me flat out what he was thinking: “Lego. Need Now! For Real, or I’ll Die.”

Figures. So much for Simplicity Parenting. Right back into more Lego clutter. But hey, he was practicing writing letters and words and sentences with a smile on his face. And I got my dream chalkboard wall out of the process. I’ll take it! xoxo