Saturday afternoon, my eight year old was busy at the kitchen table with her watercolor crayons making this picture. Suddenly I heard.....
"OH NO! I'm going to have to start over!!"
"What's wrong?"
"Look....my first heart is bigger than the second one!"
"That's okay, I think it looks great!"
"But it's not perfect......."
You know what I told her?
"But it's not perfect......."
You know what I told her?
"It doesn't have to be perfect to be beautiful."
I wish you could have seen her smile! You could tell right away that she felt freed to just enjoy what she was doing. She could have fun with it and it didn't have to be perfect!
After she had painted it with water and it was dry, I put it in the open shelving in our kitchen. I absolutely loved it and wanted to look at it all the time!
But a little while later she stopped in front of it and sighed and said "Mommy, I'm sorry it didn't turn out just perfect."
So I asked her, "Do you remember what Mommy told you?"
"Oh yeah....it doesn't have to be perfect to be beautiful!"
The scrabble tiles are helping her remember. Now when she passes the shelf, she isn't staring at it, mentally pointing out every imperfection. She just smiles.
I hope it's a lesson she never forgets.
Nothing in life will be perfect.....but it definitely can be beautiful!! =)
I'm sure she'll never forget that phrase. What a great idea!
ReplyDeleteIt is beautiful...and I love the acronym!
ReplyDeleteHave a lovely day!
Love this! Just like our <3 kids. :)
ReplyDeleteI loooove that last shot! That's a screen saver, if I ever saw one. You are a wise mama for teaching your daughter now. :) Visiting from Nesting Place today!
ReplyDeleteThank you! I have heard this alot in the past few weeks from my daughter, over exactly the same kind of thing. Now I will have a better answer for her & I love your quiet reminder for her - a great way to learn the lesson!
ReplyDeletelove the picture and the lesson behind it :) think you should frame it in your re-vamped gallery wall for her to always see and be reminded of :)
ReplyDeleteIt sure is a beautiful project! I hope she really learns at this age what you're trying to teach her. It will save her many try-too-hard, be-too-hard-on-herself years. ;-)
ReplyDeleteAs someone who struggled with that same drive for perfection as a child, I can SO empathize with her. You handled that beautifully - and it really IS beautiful.
ReplyDeleteThat's fantastic. I love this post! Dropping in from the link up at The Nester. :)
ReplyDeleteLove this story! And love how you placed the scrabble tiles there to remind her!!
ReplyDeleteFANTASTIC story! Well done. :)
ReplyDeleteawww, I think we have twin 8 year old daughters :) My dd is the exact same way about most things (especially her artwork!) so I can totally relate. I so love how you handled it with your daughter and I truly do LOVE her piece of art. And the scrabble tiles are just icing on the cake! Thanks for sharing :)
ReplyDeleteThose lessons are good to learn when you're small, but that was a wonderful reminder for me as well! : ) I SO love your silent reminder for her! And her picture was absolutely beautiful. What I have found to be true most often is that "perfect" takes away, and it's those seeming (to the doer) "flaws" that lend the beauty it wouldn't have otherwise.
ReplyDeleteI love this. What an awesome way to go with the teachable moment. I need IDHTBPTBB letters all over my house. :)
ReplyDeleteThis is so sweet! I loved this post! I myself being a perfectionist, have to stress to my children this same thought. I don't want them to feel everything has to be "perfect" like I have. I am learning this lesson too along with them! God bless!
ReplyDeleteThat's a beautiful story
ReplyDeletelove it. gave me a new idea for a tattoo! lol
ReplyDelete