When my sister's kids were little we used to joke that her name was "mommy no no" for how often she had to say no to their requests.
I am thiking about what you said though about having the toys out to play with. A few years ago I was setting up this new home and I invited my then 10 yr old nephew over to help me make sure it was setup to encourage creativity. One of the things he said stuck with me: "you have to have your art stuff out where you can just use it. if you have to put it away every time you might not do it." I have taken that to heart. There are (small, controlled, contained) spaces in my home where the art supplies are out, whether I'm using them or no.
I have about 4 little projects going on in parallel right now. I used to beat myself up for always starting "too many" things at once and not getting them "finished". As I relax into it though, I'm finding I like having the flow of things open. I learned that i was supposed to do one thing, finish it and put it away, but it isn't actually how I feel and operate best. So I am allowing things to be undone, and finish in their own time, and though there is a little part of me going "am I allowed" another part of me is going "YES!!". (And now I've deviated entirely from your post, but there you go.)
That makes perfect sense to me. If I leave my analogue journal out on my desk rather than putting it away I am far more likely to pick it up and write in it. Some mess is appropriate.
When my sister's kids were little we used to joke that her name was "mommy no no" for how often she had to say no to their requests.
I am thiking about what you said though about having the toys out to play with. A few years ago I was setting up this new home and I invited my then 10 yr old nephew over to help me make sure it was setup to encourage creativity. One of the things he said stuck with me: "you have to have your art stuff out where you can just use it. if you have to put it away every time you might not do it." I have taken that to heart. There are (small, controlled, contained) spaces in my home where the art supplies are out, whether I'm using them or no.
I have about 4 little projects going on in parallel right now. I used to beat myself up for always starting "too many" things at once and not getting them "finished". As I relax into it though, I'm finding I like having the flow of things open. I learned that i was supposed to do one thing, finish it and put it away, but it isn't actually how I feel and operate best. So I am allowing things to be undone, and finish in their own time, and though there is a little part of me going "am I allowed" another part of me is going "YES!!". (And now I've deviated entirely from your post, but there you go.)
That makes perfect sense to me. If I leave my analogue journal out on my desk rather than putting it away I am far more likely to pick it up and write in it. Some mess is appropriate.