‘Invest’ In Your Kid’s Creative Holiday Project

As one parent in our Offspring Facebook parenting group looked ahead to the holidays, he decided that his kids needed a purpose. An organising principle. A project. So Isaac Elias and his partner created a presentation in Google Docs, set up a meeting and announced to their kids: This holiday, they will invest in their kids’ “Lemonade Projects.”

They call them “Lemonade Projects” because when life gives you lemons, you make lemonade. And in case you haven’t noticed, the lemons are pretty abundant at this particular moment in time. In the presentation, they write this to their kids:

Your time and attention are so powerful and important!

You’ll have 72 days that can be applied to things you are excited about (or spent just laying around being a bickering potato)

(Or 864 waking hours)

By the end of it, we want you to look back and feel proud, happy, and satisfied with what you spent your time on!

They then pledge to invest in the kids’ creative holiday projects—once the ideas have been presented and approved, that is. They even provide a template for the kids’ presentation that includes a description of the project, an estimated time to completion, project steps and materials or purchases needed.

There are a couple of caveats; they warn the kids up front that they will ask for adjustments to the proposals if they are dangerous, take up too much space to store or work on, require too much parental supervision or assistance, or will likely take longer than two months to complete.

And then he gives some examples, which are not intended for the kids to adopt as their own, but to get their creative juices flowing. They include:

  • Make light-up fairy wings

  • Make a muppet

  • Write comics, zines or graphic novels

  • Plan and care for a garden

  • Learn a new recipe or cooking technique

  • Study a new culture or language

  • Make a longboard

  • Do interior design on your room

  • Make a flip book

  • Perfectly organise the LEGO

  • Film a stop motion animation

One final bit of advice Elias gives to the Facebook group: Consider setting a budget up front, particularly if finances are tight right now, so the kids know how simple or extravagant their projects can be.

Do your kids have any grand holiday projects planned? Share their creativity with us in the comments.


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