soap making and frustration-question
[email protected]
In a message dated 2/6/02 6:11:55 PM, homeschoolmd@... writes:
<< If I say let's put oatmeal in this soap because it will make it scratchy
and tell them why we would want scratchy soap, I've taken all the discovery
out of everything. If I buy all the soap making stuff and say you decide how
you want to use this, we usually will not have a finished product. What is
the best way to help them discover and yet minimize frustration? >>
You need to want to make soap yourself, or else they need to want to make
soap themselves, because if you just want them to make soap, there's
frustration all around.
And if you say "Do you want to help me make soap?" they will probably say
yes. What they will mean is they want to do something new and fun.
Whichever part of helping is NOT new and fun will go on the meter too, so
they might not make it through the project if you involve them totally too
soon (like when the stuff's still in the box).
So like a chef's helper or the tech-guy who sets up the TV demonstration in
advance, have things at an organized and interesting place before you call
them.
If Holly wants to help me make cookies, I don't make her find the pans and
see if there's vanilla. She wants to stir, or to measure, to form dough, or
to put them in the oven. She doesn't have a two-hour attention span.
So settle for them being in on the fun parts, and don't unreasonably expect
them to either do it all, or to even pay attention to it all.
And if you make some with oatmeal and some without, you could either tell
them "some people like scratchy soap" or not, and then let them decide on
their own whether they themselves do or not later on, when the soap's cured,
and they try it.
Soap is a little like molding ceramics. It's such a long-term project that
younger kids have forgotten the beginning of it by the finished-project time.
So don't envision one solid experience, but the parts of it. (Unless this
is soap that's ready to use pretty soon and doesn't need to cure in stages.)
But basically, if you don't want to do it yourself, don't even start. If the
kit costs money and you'll be resentful if the kids aren't thrilled and
industrious, wait until later, if ever, to do it.
That sounds negative, but in the meantime there are half a million other
things in the world that they might like better. Instead of getting them to
like what you think they will like, playing and goofing around and going for
walks and discovering what they DO like will make a less frustrating path.
Sandra
<< If I say let's put oatmeal in this soap because it will make it scratchy
and tell them why we would want scratchy soap, I've taken all the discovery
out of everything. If I buy all the soap making stuff and say you decide how
you want to use this, we usually will not have a finished product. What is
the best way to help them discover and yet minimize frustration? >>
You need to want to make soap yourself, or else they need to want to make
soap themselves, because if you just want them to make soap, there's
frustration all around.
And if you say "Do you want to help me make soap?" they will probably say
yes. What they will mean is they want to do something new and fun.
Whichever part of helping is NOT new and fun will go on the meter too, so
they might not make it through the project if you involve them totally too
soon (like when the stuff's still in the box).
So like a chef's helper or the tech-guy who sets up the TV demonstration in
advance, have things at an organized and interesting place before you call
them.
If Holly wants to help me make cookies, I don't make her find the pans and
see if there's vanilla. She wants to stir, or to measure, to form dough, or
to put them in the oven. She doesn't have a two-hour attention span.
So settle for them being in on the fun parts, and don't unreasonably expect
them to either do it all, or to even pay attention to it all.
And if you make some with oatmeal and some without, you could either tell
them "some people like scratchy soap" or not, and then let them decide on
their own whether they themselves do or not later on, when the soap's cured,
and they try it.
Soap is a little like molding ceramics. It's such a long-term project that
younger kids have forgotten the beginning of it by the finished-project time.
So don't envision one solid experience, but the parts of it. (Unless this
is soap that's ready to use pretty soon and doesn't need to cure in stages.)
But basically, if you don't want to do it yourself, don't even start. If the
kit costs money and you'll be resentful if the kids aren't thrilled and
industrious, wait until later, if ever, to do it.
That sounds negative, but in the meantime there are half a million other
things in the world that they might like better. Instead of getting them to
like what you think they will like, playing and goofing around and going for
walks and discovering what they DO like will make a less frustrating path.
Sandra
Pat Cald...
Sandra, your advice on how to handle projects with my children answers a multitude of questions and these are questions I deal with often. Thank you.
Pat
Pat
----- Original Message -----
From: SandraDodd@...
To: [email protected]
Sent: Thursday, February 07, 2002 8:43 AM
Subject: [AlwaysLearning] soap making and frustration-question
In a message dated 2/6/02 6:11:55 PM, homeschoolmd@... writes:
<< If I say let's put oatmeal in this soap because it will make it scratchy
and tell them why we would want scratchy soap, I've taken all the discovery
out of everything. If I buy all the soap making stuff and say you decide how
you want to use this, we usually will not have a finished product. What is
the best way to help them discover and yet minimize frustration? >>
You need to want to make soap yourself, or else they need to want to make
soap themselves, because if you just want them to make soap, there's
frustration all around.
And if you say "Do you want to help me make soap?" they will probably say
yes. What they will mean is they want to do something new and fun.
Whichever part of helping is NOT new and fun will go on the meter too, so
they might not make it through the project if you involve them totally too
soon (like when the stuff's still in the box).
So like a chef's helper or the tech-guy who sets up the TV demonstration in
advance, have things at an organized and interesting place before you call
them.
If Holly wants to help me make cookies, I don't make her find the pans and
see if there's vanilla. She wants to stir, or to measure, to form dough, or
to put them in the oven. She doesn't have a two-hour attention span.
So settle for them being in on the fun parts, and don't unreasonably expect
them to either do it all, or to even pay attention to it all.
And if you make some with oatmeal and some without, you could either tell
them "some people like scratchy soap" or not, and then let them decide on
their own whether they themselves do or not later on, when the soap's cured,
and they try it.
Soap is a little like molding ceramics. It's such a long-term project that
younger kids have forgotten the beginning of it by the finished-project time.
So don't envision one solid experience, but the parts of it. (Unless this
is soap that's ready to use pretty soon and doesn't need to cure in stages.)
But basically, if you don't want to do it yourself, don't even start. If the
kit costs money and you'll be resentful if the kids aren't thrilled and
industrious, wait until later, if ever, to do it.
That sounds negative, but in the meantime there are half a million other
things in the world that they might like better. Instead of getting them to
like what you think they will like, playing and goofing around and going for
walks and discovering what they DO like will make a less frustrating path.
Sandra
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