Why didn't I think of this before?
My little children like to paint. I'm not too keen on it, simply because of the mess and the feeling that I have to stand over them the whole time. But today, when my 4 year old son asked to paint, I got to thinking, a la' "Flylady" that I can do anything for 15 minutes. Or in this case, 30 minutes. So I told him they could paint for 30 minutes. We got the stuff out: aprons, plastic tablecloth, and paints. I was able to get him to agree to the paints that come in bottles with sponge tips - you use them straight from the bottle with the sponge instead of using a brush.
Usually ds3 and his little sister want to paint picture after picture - and they did do a few today - but knowing that it was going to be for only 30 minutes made it a lot easier on me. After 30 minutes we cleared up, with no griping or anything. Those bottle paints sure are a boon too - I had very little to clean up. And as it was so pleasant, and I know now that there is an end in sight when we paint, I am much more willing to do it again, as opposed to when it was some long, open-ended affair.
You may think, why the stress? I don't know, I'm happy with doing other things that bother other mothers, but painting just taxed me for some reason. At any rate, I will have to look for more ways to apply the philosophy "you can do anything for X minutes...."
I got some more walls in the bathroom wiped down with bleach solution today. Tomorrow some dusting I think. We're having a few days off from schoolwork and although I am enjoying the time off too, I'm trying to get a few cleaning tasks done that I normally don't manage during school time.
