I’m not sure which school I belong to. I can’t get behind Mr Maker and his method of sticking googly eyes on anything and declaring it art, nor the highly polished crafty movements of Pinterest and its cousin, the well-edited YouTube. Instead, I've settled on organised chaos that cares not for specific times, locations or surfaces.
I used to set out with good intentions and a structured approach: a designated time; bowls of items to glue; a plan to create a birthday card or seasonal painting. However, it became apparent that 'craft time' wasn’t going to work. Things were thrown, tears were shed and hearts were broken. I don’t create when I don’t feel like it, so maybe they feel the same way?
So we disbanded and took a much looser approach. The dining room is now in constant use as an art studio and you are never more than arms length away from a felt pen (without a cap). My job is simply to restock the pen pots and keep the river of paint flowing. We started making our own play dough
I’m in my thirties and the stay at home dad to headstrong 4 year old twins. My parenting approach is to go with the flow, sticking to the path that will result in the fewest fights or mass destruction of property. My pre-parenting idealistic views have been shattered; I will happily cave in and take the easy route - I am no longer against feeding them biscuits for breakfast if we are in a hurry, and when it comes to creativity, I am not Pinterest. Pinterest is a lie, an idealistic utopia that I simply cannot live up to.
Adventures in Twin Craft