The Dot

So I started my last blog post which was all about not crying over spilt milk and embracing the fact I can’t bake and that when the girls birthdays came round and we tried to ice cup cakes never mind bake the cupcakes just ice them.. Seems simple enough right? Just ice the cupcakes… Wrong…!!!When one accidentally dropped on the floor and it bounced and no damage was done in any shape or form cause thats how hard they were, I knew I had serious baking issues ha ha ha ha ha… And to add insult to injury the girls refused to eat the cakes after all the effort put into them.. Which in hind site is probably safer as cupcakes that bounce may not be quite so good for digestion ??ha ha ha ha… So there I was with the blog in draft and all ready to write about my woes of not being the next Nigella Lawson and how I mustn’t dwell on my weakness but rather look at positive and think of all the job opportunities am creating by buying rather than making ha ha ha ha….When life just took over… Flu season meant I had sick kids, not one or two but three, then Maya broke the bone near her elbow again… Yep you read right she broke a bone again, and so after a lecture on kids nutrition from my hubby I agree I no longer feel sorry for the kids they will eat greens come hell or high water, calcium rich broccoli sandwiches are now a feature on our menu ha ha ha ha…..

Then one bed time I pulled off the shelf a book called “The Dot” by Peter H Reynolds, and as I read this story even though I have read it a million times before, something struck a cord with me… I think when things go wrong in my life sick kids, lack of sleep, there is too much month at the end of my money ?‍♀️ha ha ha, its at that the point a lot of self doubt creeps in and you know the downward spiral starts…. But my cousin Rehana had sent me a podcast to listen on Super Soul Sunday by Dr Shefali Tsabary called “Conscious Parenting can change the World” and this woman changed my mindset… Really so much of my parenting is unconscious and so much of what I think I want for my kids really is to fill my lacking, my emptiness…Let me give you an example Maya does ballet or rather I force her to do ballet, look she is good at what she does but does she have the desire to be a dancer no, she just goes there to socialise with the other kids, but its a discipline and there is so many life skills I feel she will gain from dancing and the truth is I want to offer her the opportunities I never had growing up..When she is on the stage and I see how confident she is and how well she dances, I think she will learn to love to dance…And seeing her performing my heart swells with so much pride, this 5 year old can do so much at such a small age…But and here’s the but her dancing fills my cup not hers, yes deep down in there I am living my dreams through her and every time someone says wow your daughter is amazing its my ego stroked saying am amazing too ha ha ha ha… So this woman has me rethinking my whole parenting system but it also made me realize that unless I break my cycle of fear and feelings of unworthiness this will just keep being passed down onto my kids, cause the truth is no matter how hard we pretend on the outside our kids they see through all of that…In way I wish I never heard that podcast then I could carry on parenting unconciusly and pushing my kids to fill my cup instead of working on me just until one of my kids received their noble peace prize or be a world famous genius I am not too fussed which one but all three would be ideal ha ha ha ha ha…..

So this time when I read this book I was a little more conscious and I realised that there is so power in words and books.. This book is all about a little girl who is encouraged by her teacher to make her mark and see where it takes her, eventually it leads to her discovering her talent…When I asked Maya what did she learn from the book her response was “try try, don’t cry cry”, those words led to a conversation and I thought this 5 year old kid gets it…At the moment she doesn’t have those insecurities and hangups and I am going to try breed and keep this positive thinking going… That ignited the fire in me I thought we will do projects together focused on this book and keep drilling this message, don’t be scared to try just make your mark and see where it takes you….The truth is I need like hours and hours of life coaching, so doing this ground work with the girls is also making me work through my issues…Ok Ok Ok its probably me benefiting the most from The Dot at the moment ha ha ha ha….We just have been doing circle inspired projects and through our conversations now and then we talking about the message of the book an other positive ways of thinking about situations, other times we focus on the shape of the circles and Cianna has started pointing out circles in our envirmonent (maybe signs of a two year old genius in the making just saying ha ha ha ha ha)….

So far our circle journey has taken us through:

Making circles using fruit loops
Nature Circles using things in the garden
Sewing circles (I would definitely do this again)
Maya had a Captain America shield painted on her cast
Maya learnt about concentric circles at school and drew the rings they identified on an old cut tree.
We printed circles using different circle objects
Free drew circles
We bought a paint spinner from Toys R Us for R150, which spins the paper and splatters the paint and leaves the most amazing effect.
We bathed with plastic balls
We had a circle play date and ate pizza
We started A Family Make your Mark project

Not all projects have gone as smoothly as it looks on instagram, there has been some family drama when working together ha ha ha ha… Especially the family Make Your Mark one…!!!!! We don’t have Dr Shefali living with us so my trying to be a more conscious parent has really been tested ha ha ha ha… One complaining others are scribbling, other one shouting “I no sccriibole I draw secole’, other one grabbing other ones bowl and then eating the paint…Then me shouting we a family we supposed to love being together just enjoy painting with your sisters, Cue more whinning/complaining, more scribbles, more paint tasting..Next Minute we hear Mattea uummm uummm ummming and her face is covered in paint then the room explodes with laughter ha ha ha I was half expecting rainbow poo in her next nappy…..I could write a book on these kids I tell you…

A while back Genevieve from Love Coco (who do the most amazing decor items, my house is literally covered in their designs… Craig threatens me every time that its enough and less is more but somehow I find space to squeeze another design in and by the time he is home its too late and up ha ha ha)…She had said to me “lets do a collaboration one day”… After the story I thought this is it we have to do it on this book, and after a meeting everything fell into place and the idea of “A Family Make your Mark Box” was born… How it works is that each family member can add onto another persons circle but you can not destroy another persons circle…This box is designed around a family spending time together doing perfectly imperfect art… Art always seems intimidating in the beginning but with circles its an easy start.. Its all about the journey or the process of making the masterpiece rather than the end product…When I was teaching a small group kids art I would always say to the moms I am not the best of art teachers cause I don’t really teach shading or fading etc we just study masterpieces and work on our own interpretation of the pieces…The one mom named Anja (this mom just has the most amazing aura that just radiates calm and fills my spirit with positivity) said “Marcia you teach an art journey and that something great too” These words hit home for me cause this mom just wanted her child to have an experiences with art and didn’t care about the end product and it summed up the perfectly imperfect art theory we have perfectly, so these words have stayed with me close to my heart… This box is exactly that its a journey, a family experience…

So look out for our next blog post all about how our family make your mark masterpiece came out and look out for an exciting competition we running to win our Love Coco and Mini Matisse “Make your Mark” Family art box.. Its a once off box packed with the chance to create perfectly imperfect memories. I may have to add a bottle of vodka in the box cause if your family is anything like mine you’ll need it, especially if you trying to be a conscious parent ha ha ha ha….But seriously I just love love love books they are the best present you can give and if you looking for an inspirational kids book buy “The Dot” by Peter H Reynolds and then dare to make your mark..

Love