My perfect day

Some would say it is a dangerous game to plan a perfect day in your head as a mother, for fear that it would not go as planned. Some would say it is overly ambitious, setting oneself up for a fall and just begging for disappointment. But some....would be wrong.

At least yesterday they would have been. The kids and I set out on a field trip to the St. Louis Art Museum. At the ingenious suggestion from my husband, I brought along a sketchbook and pencil for each child. 6 children total as we brought a friend along. I brought a stroller, since chasing my 3 yr old throughout the museum was one way for my perfect day to be ruined. I hid the sketchbooks and pencils in the trunk until we arrived at the museum, since the kids would have fought over the pads and pencils the whole way there if I had handed them out earlier, which would have begun to upset my perfect day plan. I mentioned to the kids that a successful, polite and fun trip to the art museum where they used their best efforts at drawing may get them a treat on the way home - not at the museum, since I knew having not said this would have meant much begging as we passed the snack stand at the museum, which would have put a nick in my perfect day. I insisted that Elaina and Ben keep one hand on the stroller while walking through the museum, since losing a child during our visit would have put a crimp in my perfect day. I listened to their suggestions of what pieces they wanted to draw but told them I would be making the final decisions, since a big fight about what to draw would have ruined my perfect day. I decided that it was time to leave before anyone was showing signs of crabbiness, because crabbiness could have ruined my perfect day.

The kids did wonderful sketches of paintings, sculptures, tribal figures and masks, and furniture. They had fun and were proud of what they were able to do.We spent some time rolling down Art Hill (well, I watched) after we were finished in the museum. And we got mini ice cream cones on our way home. It was the perfect day to an art loving mom. Was this by chance? Heck no! Did you not read the paragraph above??? I am learning. I am learning how to  head off disaster before it starts, and I am learning that in the perfect day, everything does not have to be perfect: Two of the boys began to argue on the way to the car. One kid began to scoff at the mini cones and beg for something more, and Elaina and Jack hit heads hard while rolling down art hill. None were deal-breakers for my perfect day. Yesterday, in this dangerous game - I won.

And today we had our Art Show! I surprised the kids by matting their work on black boards and displaying it in the art room on huge white boards on a black curtained background for a little art show for some friends and daddy. They practiced talking about their art to their small audience. The highlight was when Charlie (3) pointed to his scribbles matted on black boards and yelled "Abstract!" We then had some snacks and drinks, for at most gallery showings I have been to their is a little reception afterward.

I hope that what the kids gain from this is a little bit of artistic confidence, a little bit of public speaking confidence, but most of all, a memory of mom having fun with them. I really had a lot of fun, and I am pretty sure that they did too.