Binoculars.

Earlier this week I had a rare weekday with my girls.  I am a planner by nature.  An unexpected day with the girls meant that I hadn't planned much to do with them.  I have been trying so hard to let our girls just be, but sometimes the inner structure fanatic in me wants to structure their every days.  I think structure is good and needed, but so is creativity and pretend--both of which take not having structure.  Anyone with me?  Ila went down for an early nap, leaving Ona and I time together.  There was a long paper towel roll sitting on the counter waiting for the recycle bin.  After cutting it in half, Ona and I took crayons and Hello Kitty stickers to it.  With Ona screaming, "hot, hot," I used a hot glue gun to glue the two halves together.  We made binoculars, ya'll.

She shouted, "I see, I see!" and ran around the yard looking at everything from the flowers in the field, the daylilies in the yard, and the bird poop on the electrical boxes.  Yep, she went there. 

It was something special to see her pretend that she could actually see something through those silly paper rolls.  Her creativity was expressed through pretend and I had a chance to practice with our new lens.  A win win. 

It is, was, and will still be a bit hard to not be so much of a planner.  I am going to really try though, because it is important to just be sometimes or a lot of times.  A simple, full, yet not busy life is the kind of life I wish for my girls.  For me too.  How do you foster creativity in your kids?  Do you have to reign in your inner planner too? 

 Moments like this are so worth it.