I have a confession to make, mama
I hate glitter.
In fact, I hate basically ALL arts and crafts.
Now, “hate” is a strong word, but it’s almost not strong enough to describe how I feel about crafting and glitter and paint and yarn and —
You get the picture. It’s not my thing.
When we decided to homeschool the kids this year, I knew I was going to need help. Some facts:
- I run a business (it’s called The Free Mama Movement. Have you heard about it? 😉).
- Justin works full time.
- Audrey is a pre-schooler, and needs A LOT of hands-on activity time, plus she can’t read instructions.
- Daphne is AWESOME at reading instructions and independent work, but I think it’s somewhat irresponsible to just hand her the curriculum and send her off to complete it.
- Henry needs more hands-on instruction than I anticipated, and it is amazingly rewarding to watch him master new concepts.
- We’ve taken on the responsibility of educating these kids, and that’s a LOT.
Justin and I took a long, hard look at our lives and our responsibilities, and we quickly figured out that while we could handle things like sports, math, and handwriting, art was not going to be our thing.
Also, we knew that we needed dedicated time to do our jobs, or there would be no income.
So we began the search for a babysitter.
Enter the Glitter Fairy.
She LOVES crafts. She has ENDLESS patience. She is KIND.
In other words, she is strong where I am weak, which makes her perfect for this role.
In the mornings, Justin and I tag team teaching the kids. In the afternoons, the Glitter Fairy swoops in and waves her magic wand. Justin and I go to work, and the kids get to crafting.
It’s taken time to build this routine — we started back in August. Has it always been perfect? HECK NO. Is it a privilege to be able to pay a sitter? HECK YEAH.
The thing is, waiting around for your Glitter Fairy doesn’t work.
We needed help and structure and routine. For us, that looked like hiring help.
Yeah, you might have to get super creative to figure out how to get the things you need.
Can you team up with another family?
Can you work out a schedule with your partner?
Can you institute daily quiet time?
Can you set up a daily video chat with grandparents or cousins or friends?
If your answer to everything is, “That won’t work for me,” then you’re not looking hard enough for solutions.
I know that’s hard to hear, but you have to hear this: You cannot hit your goals by yourself. It takes a village to figure out what your village looks like.
Ask for what you need, Mama.
Stop waiting for your Glitter Fairy and go out and get her. Asking for help is actually a sign of strength