let it go

Yesterday was my husband's birthday so it was very busy around here.  We had presents to wrap and cupcakes to make!


My children are 3 and almost 5 so wrapping presents isn't normally a group activity.  Actually, it's a " late at night with some wine" kind of activity but yesterday was the exception.  We gathered all our supplies and started cutting. No one could seem to get the tape on straight or do it without using 2 ft at a time and the corners were less than square but my children were so proud and happy of all their work.   They then moved on to cutting up an ENTIRE catalog to glue to his card.   Throughout both of these crafts I was trying so hard not to correct them or fix it and kept reminding myself it didn't matter.

                                    (what didn't make the card ended up in a million pieces on the floor)




Once our wrapping work was done it was time to move onto decorating the cupcakes.  I have always been good about letting my kids choose their own clothes (as long as they are weather appropriate) and actually find it really important. I think it encourages them to believe they can make good choices and that as long as they think they look so why did I have such a hard time with a simple batch of cupcakes?!

In the era of Pintrest perfection a good old box cake and tub of frosting seems to be getting lost but my family has vowed to keep them going!  I had purchased a cute decorating set with the fancy tips for the frosting and thought this would be a great chance to try them out.   My helpers had other ideas.........  After the first two cupcakes I tried to edit their design  and was met with much resistance.   I suddenly realized it really didn't matter.  They were happy, they thought it looked awesome and they were doing it all by themselves!   It didn't matter how it looked, it matter how much fun my kids were having and what they thought of the progress.


The funny thing is, in the end the cupcakes looked GREAT!

So, whether it's the pretty presents under the tree or simple birthday cupcakes if our kids are helping and feel like they are contributing isn't that more important that the 'look'?   Aren't we supposed to be teaching them to help out, do things for themselves, be independent?  I need to work a lot more on 'letting it go' in favor of their help and in spite of my design aesthetic. 

                        (one very happy guy eating all the sprinkles that didn't make it onto the cupcakes!!)