If you think the studio went off on school holidays, you are mistaken. The school holidays came to the studio instead.
Young parents reminded me that in their day they spent the school holidays in the country at grandmother's, and that I could rest during that time (resting, in my case, meant going to work and to lectures).
Now it is the school holidays and they want to rest, to simply go to work. So I could take the children for a week. Never mind that I have to work too. The children will not disturb me, they will play.
I am of course not so simple minded as to imagine children playing by themselves all day long. Never mind a whole week. But since, for the first time in my company's short history, I did not have a single deadline running out, I did not put up much resistance. I have, after all, spent rather little time with the grandchildren who live further away. The other grandchildren I see almost every day.
My experience so far told me that a whole week of chaos would now reign in my home and studio and in my daily plan altogether. Everyone would certainly have their own expectations and hopes, wishes and demands for the coming week. It was quite likely that I would not be able to convince the children that I need part of the day to myself, to concentrate and to sew. Bearing in mind that the coming guests are rather temperamental, that is with emotions that boil over. Both in the everyday routine and while playing together.
And then I had an idea, an idea borrowed from an American super nanny soap opera: to make one big, beautiful shared daily timetable together with the children.
We wrote on a sheet of paper the activities that have to happen every day:
* eating, 4 times
* time outdoors
* drawing and reading time
* play time
* TV and tablet time
* time together (cooking and other chores)
* doing things together time (shared games or crafting)
* bedtime
We then cut and tore these out of the paper, divided them into morning and afternoon activities, and finally each activity got a time next to it. Drawing and reading time I put after lunch, so there would be a quiet midday period, the usual time for an afternoon nap at nursery. Alongside the children's activities I marked when my working time is. I also wrote down my TV time, an hour when I want to watch my daily soap.
I wrote the whole timetable on a large sheet of paper in big coloured letters and taped it to the door with masking tape. The children decorated and coloured it as they pleased. A moment later four important rules had to be added in red felt tip: no shouting, no fighting, no telling tales, no teasing.
I had no great faith or hope in the thing. But surprise, surprise, IT WORKED. Quite astonishing, but the children found it interesting. Every little while they ran over to look at what came next. The younger one could not yet tell the time, but that was no trouble. He can already read and can ask the others what time it is.
On the first day it was actually harder for me to rearrange my daily routine and start and stop my work by the clock. The children counted the minutes: the food is 5 minutes late. It is already time to do things together. TV and tablet time is starting any moment now, 3 minutes to go. Sitting on the sofa, remote in hand. Shall we get dressed now, it is nearly time to go out. Today at doing things together time let us play that ladder board game again. If I am quiet, may I play in here (my working time and sewing room). The girl, you see, is very taken with my sewing, above all with the quilts. This time she came to stroke the cat quilt in the making and decided that I could sew her a quilt like that too. 🙂
I lived by a fixed daily routine with my own children in their day as well, but I never wrote it up on the wall or planned a specific time in every day for being with them and so on. This really was splendid and very motivating.
I was so surprised by this experience that I wanted to share it with you.
In the picture: the younger ones wanted to try free motion quilting too. I made each of them a small round wadded patch, which became a little heat mat. They could quilt circles and stripes onto it, that is they guided the patch about under the needle. I kept my own fingers between their fingers and the needle, to be safe. One sewed, the other took pictures. The rest of the pictures of sewing and the button game simply did not come out. 🙂
