Letting go of crafty control is ok, in fact, I encourage it as a mom.

There is little I like better than crafting with my daughter. She is amazed at everything I show her how to do and eager to try it. She can get a little frustrated at her skills, but I keep telling her that is why we practice, to develop them more. I have to remind her I have a few years of experience on her. That I bet when she is as old as I am, she will be so much better.

I was pretty excited to work with my daughter on a project for her room.  We had a new chandelier light to hang in her room and some plain white chandelier shades to customize.  I had my own idea of what to do on the shades, and my daughter had her own as well. 

She had picked out fabric that she liked and wanted to use for her projects. She wanted to simply cover each shade with fabric.  I wanted to do all sorts of fun things to them and make it much more complicated that she did. I envisioned them all the same, using the variety of fabrics she selected.  I had such heartache when she wanted to simply cover them with three different kinds of fabric. Two cotton fabrics and one shiny satin dark pink.  That makes no sense to me. Why not use the three of them on all three shades and do some cool layering and textures. 

I thought- "That's it?!?!" Just simply cover them? 

She knew that that was what she wanted to do though, and good for her, she stuck to her desire to do simply that. "It's my room and my light and that's what I want to do," she exclaimed to me. Well...I couldn't disagree with that, so simple was going to be ok. I tell you though...

I had a hard time letting go of my desire to have 

crafty control on this project. 

But I want her to be able to make her own decisions and stick to it, not having a mom that questions everything and tries to get her to do it her way. After all, there are so many ways to do something and they all have their own beauty.

I showed her how to roll the shade to get the shape that will fit over the shade, she was completely impressed with how I knew how to do that. Kids sure can make you feel so smart sometimes!

Her focus on this project impressed me. 

She knew exactly what she wanted to do. 

It was nice to see her so focused on something. 

This quilt my mom made with her impressed me too. My daughter got to pick out all the fabrics, when I first saw them, I thought-

"Oh no, we have to put that in her room?!?!?" 

My crafty control wanted to take over then too, but I fought it off.  Now I have to say I am quite fond of it and means much more that she picked it all out.  She has such a sense of pride about it too. That is something I couldn't give her by doing it myself. I love that she was so decisive when she was picking the fabric out.  She had a list of colors that just did not sound good together. But, somehow it all worked and brings such a happy focal point to her room!  

I've decided it's much better to let go of that desire for crafty control.

It turned out just gorgeous. More importantly, she loves it and is so proud to tell others that she made it. As a mom, my advise is let go of the crafty control you want to have over your kids to make it perfect in your eyes. When they make it themselves with a little guidance, it's perfect in their eyes...that is what is most important.