Gadzooks, Look At the Time

Kudos to those parents who let their kids take their time coloring crowns. 
 
Cwerks had a booth at Riverfront Family Fun Festival today and our hands-on activity was crown-decorating. We cut out crowns for the kids, they would use markers or crayons to decorate them and then we'd fit them to their heads.


For the most part, the kids zipped through the coloring--there was so many other things to do at the festival--but there were some kids who were meticulous. One father brought his two- and four-year-old over and both of them took their time to create masterpieces...okay, no, they weren't really masterpieces; I was just so impressed with their ability to focus on their art even if the medium was cheap markers and crayons and the material was plain white paper. Dad was so patient letting them color. There was another child who left no white showing on her crown; a little girl was determined to use all the light colors we had (and we had brought a lot); one girl was left at our booth to finish while Mom, Grandma, and sisters went to the next booth (they were in easy reaching distance if needed). 


Then there's me. I try to fit as much as possible: into my day, into a workshop I'm teaching, into a week-long class I'm directing. Once, we went to a nearby, rather small theme park and bought a daypass. I was determined to get our money's worth. Well, the rides of a theme park on not many acres tend to be primarily circular--circle vertically, circle horizontally, figure 8s. We were all dizzy by the time we left and staggered to the car. Apparently, the adage "too much of a good thing" is true.


Then there are schools: start of the day activities--15 minutes. Period. Reading time, 45 minutes. Period. Recess, 15 minutes, including restroom and drinks. Stop. Math, History, Health, Science--stop on time. Heaven forbid we go off on a tangent because the kids are interested. Don't talk while eating lunch because you must eat within 15 minutes so you can hurry and go play for another 15. Now stop.

At home: Get up. Get ready (parents and kids). Get breakfast. Get out to the bus or car. Get home. Get to the other activities. Get dinner. Get the chores and homework done. Get ready for bed. Get to bed.


I do hope that those parents who let their children take their time coloring today will continue to let their children take their time as they grow older. There are too many of us who learned to watch the clock. Perhaps by watching the clock too much, we've actually lost time.