A while back, I discussed the last lecture of Professor Randy Pausch...his final lecture was not on academics, but on life. Among the many life lessons he imparts on the audience is to give your kids freedom to be creative and to develop their interests. Case in point: his parents let him write the quadratic equation on his bedroom wall and draw all sorts of inventions that planted the seed for his future interest in math and science.
My post posed the question, would you let your kids draw on the wall? Really? Well not long after I asked that question, I began painting a bedroom in our new house. The bedroom had belonged to the previous owner's daughter who spent most of her pre-teen and teenage years there.
Her parents let her do what Randy's did. And the closet walls were sprinkled with drawings, quotes and notes between her and her friend. As I started to paint over these years of memories, including one note ringing in the new year with "Happy 2000" in all caps, I was reluctant and a bit sad to cover up the memories!
So the hubby and I decided to leave one portion of the artwork up...who knows it may be inspiration for a daughter of our own one day so she knows she too can chart out her dreams right there on her bedroom wall.
Enjoy the pics!
2 comments:
As a parent of three young children I am often confronted with toys strewn around the family room, action figures littering my "gourmet" kitchen counters, and countless hand drawn "masterpieces" taped all over the Pottery Barn decorated bedrooms. I used to go crazy trying to keep my house looking nice and wondered in awe how some friends houses looked like they should be on a home & garden show. What I have come to realize is that if my house looks like it should be in a magazine then my kids are not allowed to be kids. I have not been able to let go enough to allow my kids write freely on the walls (paper must be used). However when someone comes over and my house is a mess because of my kids creativity, I no longer feel the need to apologize. I am happy that they are free to use their imagination at the expense of being pictured in the next Martha Stewart Home!
Your kids won't remember a messy home, but they will remember a happy one!
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