Crafting with Kids

A lot of us who craft have stories about a beloved older relative or friend introducing us to something that’s become a lifelong love. I was always asking my grandma what she was working on and if I could watch her crochet. Now that I have my own daughter, I hope we can share moments like that, too.

Here’s the thing, though. My kid is a toddler. She might as well be named Grabby McGrabberton. Much like a kitten I had who launched himself off the couch and onto my knitting, pulling everything off the needles, she wants to be involved in a less than helpful way. I don’t want to discourage her, but I also don’t want to have to redo everything I’ve worked on that day because she’s gotten hold of my ball of yarn and run through the house with it.

So, how do I balance encouraging her interest with preserving my sanity? This is someone who’s still working on mastering a spoon, so it’s too soon for lessons. Solution: she has her own skein of yarn. It’s a random, brightly multicolored acrylic yarn someone gave me. I have no plans for it. She’s welcome to hold it, run around waving it in the air, and pull on the end to see what happens (spoiler: what happens is a mess). But, the important thing is that she gets to do what her mama’s doing. She’s having fun. And with any luck, I’m planting the seeds for a future yarn store trip buddy.