I think it’s important for children to have the freedom of choice. I think this for a couple reasons.
On one hand, they need to develop strong decision making skills and how to be confident in those decisions. They also need to understand that sometimes, their choices come with consequences, and that they can’t have everything. When they’re young this is as simple as you can only choose one toy to buy, you can’t have all of the toys. These are learning tools for them. They now have the toy they chose to play with and are confident it was the best. And I enforce that they made a good choice, without mocking it or telling them it was a dumb toy, all while encouraging them to remember that their choices have consequences now while the consequence is something tiny. Life is full of this choice and consequence sequence. They are learning how the world works in these scenarios.
Another part is that I want them to grow up with confidence in themselves. Giving them the ability to choose who they hug and kiss, what kind of clothes they wear, when they want to discuss something, tells them that they can proudly express themselves and they have power over their own bodies. Even as their parent, I ask to kiss them. I give them the choice to be rocked/cuddled to sleep or go to bed on their own.
This doesn’t mean I turn my kids loose in the world and tell them to choose whatever they want. For one, that would be incredibly overwhelming. That would overwhelm me and I have a grown up brain. Their prefrontal cortex is still developing so I do have to help them sometimes make good choices. In the arena of say, what they wear, let’s say they need new tennis shoes. I wouldn’t take them to a shoe store and just tell them to go pick something. I would take them to the tennis shoe section, and allow them to pick from that smaller selection. This teaches both limitations and decision making. They do have to make a choice from a wide range, but they also can’t choose a dress shoe either. Or say with bedtime. They don’t get to run wild all night, we have a set bedtime, but they get to choose whether or not they want to be rocked to sleep or not. Either way they still have to go to bed, they choose how.
The world works that way for all of us, even as adults. We often have to make choices within certain limits, and no matter what, we all have to deal with the consequences of our actions. For a kid that may only be the short pain of a skinned knee after not heeding a warning from an adult, but it teaches them how to handle the world when they get older.
This becomes humorous sometimes when a kid chooses the oddest things. Like the hallowen cup my kid chose. He could’ve had a vampire, or Frankenstein’s monster, things that actually had brains. But no, he chose the pumpkin, the one cup that made no sense to have a brain lid.
So in a roundabout ancedote, when you give your kids freedom of choice, you get some interesting cups in your cabinet.
Starting pieces. I got a metal wreath ring, three rolls of tool, a string of garland, a little witch hat, a BOO, and two packages of small figures. Totaled to $9, and if you add tax round that up to $10. I did also use a hot glue gun and string that I already had and didn’t calculate into the price. Neither are terribly expensive if you need to buy them. If you do, add another $8-$10 dollars.
First, I wrapped the orange tool around the metal ring flatly, and then with the second roll, I wrapped the orange but twisted it. Then added the purple tool on top of the orange. I decided to keep it only two colors to avoid making the wreath too busy and confusing to the eye. Simple is sometimes best, especially when it comes to base colors. I secured the tool directly to the metal ring and added a little hot glue for extra strength because tool likes to come apart.
Next I added the ghost Garland. This added a third color to the mix and some spooky as well. I also secured this directly to the metal ring. Pretty simple step, just wrap the garland around the wreath.
For the BOO I tied it onto the wreath with string to hold it on. Then I used the hot glue gun to position it where I wanted. I knew simply glue wouldn’t be strong enough to last, which is why I chose to tie it on with string for added strength.
After I had the BOO where I wanted it, I arranged the small figures around it for added flair. I had a package of plastic bugs and skeletons and a package of glittery bats. I didnt use all the bugs, mostly just the spiders, so my kids got the extras to play with. I tried to positon them in places with contrasting colors so they would be easy to see. Hot glue is what I used to keep them in place. Careful with this part as not to burn your fingers on the hot glue that eeks through the loose weave of the tool.
Lastly, I added the little witch hat in the middle of the wreath. I debated putting it on top or figuring a way to tie it on the front, but ultimately chose to put it in the middle. This was the most difficult part of the entire craft. I tied both sides down with string. I made little peeky holes down to the metal ring and secured the hat directly to it. Once it was tied down, I used a little hot glue to position it exactly how it needed to sit and keep it there.
Final product on the door. In total, this took me about an hour to make and cost me just under $10. I like how it turned out, and I’m pretty pleased with my craftiness. I’m thinking next time though, I’m going to use black tool on the base and orange or purple garland. Just to make it more stable and simply pleasing to the eye. Final consensus is you can make a good looking wreath entirely of Dollar Tree materials. Have a fashionable door and not spend a fortune. I’d say the experiment was a success.
Dose of Sunshine 