I Hate Crafts

Actually I don't. I love crafts. Buddy and I have enjoyed doing crafts together since he's been old enough for closed-ended projects (stuff that's supposed to turn out a certain way). I've always looked at the adorable sewing and beading girly-girl kits in the craft shop and looked forward to sharing time like that with a daughter.

So, I don't hate crafts. What I don't enjoy is how "doing a craft" inevitably ends. Princess was voluntarily reading to me earlier, when she got tired and didn't want to work at it anymore. So she wandered around a bit and then asked for her stepping stone kit. Which involves mixing plaster and I should definitely have nixed when she bought it way back when she was receiving an allowance. But I didn't, and it's still here. I sighed inwardly, because if she was tired of reading, following a sheet of directions was not going to happen. Then I got the kit down.

Princess mixed up one bag of plaster without measuring, so it was a runny mess. Progress note: she did come in a get a measuring cup for the next try. Hence the whole learning by doing thing. However, after she got the plaster mixed up and let it sit for the 1-3 minutes as stated in the *directions,* she realized that she didn't have the plastic mat with shape templates you're supposed to pipe the plaster on top of (who THINKS of these monstrous kits any way? Someone paid to sit around and rub his hand together and say, "how can I distract children from crayons and paper against their mother's better judgment THIS time? A-HA! I've got it! Plaster and fake jewels! Mwa ha ha ha haaaaaa!"?).

Now, lest I seem cold and callous, let me assure you my desire is to swoop in and fix it all for her. And boy does she want me to. However:

1. I gently warned her, at the store, that this kit was over her head, would be difficult and frustrating, and would require my help which would not be available if I was getting yelled at all the time,
2. When she asked for it today, I gently warned her that the directions would be difficult to follow and she'd have to read them to get the project right, and
3. The VERY. FIRST. step in the directions is to lay the stuff out on top of the.....

PLASTIC MAT.

On top of that, she allowed her sisters to "help" (after telling them the box said they weren't old enough), so now added to the extensive clean-up is the plastery paint job the Cuddle Bear did on the picnic table bench. I will say she's handling it fairly age-appropriately with only mild whining and mother accusing. For now.

Nothing in a pink box that requires water to be mixed into it is every crossing my threshold again.
I am serious.