I have a love/hate relationship with Pinterest. I love to see all of the very creative ideas but lately I feel incredibly inadequate as I gaze upon the beautiful nurseries that creative mothers have conjured up. As I scroll through the search results, I think I could do that? Then I remember my God given talents do not lie in the artistic realm.

Accepting Reality

I see a cute canvas with a little girls name hanging over the crib. I see monograms and  chevron painted pictures with quotes that adorn the walls of a little girls nursery. After many a night contemplating what I could do that is “cute and crafty” to my daughters nursery, I have come to terms with the fact that no matter how hard I try I will never ever be able to recreate what I see there. My hands are shaky, my handwriting is atrocious, I can barely color in the lines with my little boy, my “master drawing” is a stick man or snail and the worst part is I am a perfectionist so everything I create I feel is completely flawed.

The Conundrum 

In a world where so many women are so creative and so talented, how can I instill in my girl (if she is anything like her father, brother and I) that creativity comes in different forms? How do we teach our children it’s okay if your artwork looks different without them feeling that it isn’t good enough? As she gets older and has children of her own, how do I help her come to terms with the fact that some of the other moms are going to outshine her with their cutesy holiday crafts, gifts for the teacher, and really explain to her that some moms are genetically destined to be room mom and she might not be without crushing her spirit?

The Solution

I don’t know much about parenting. I basically survive day to day but I do know no one likes to feel as if they aren’t good enough especially during childhood. In the same breath, I must tell you that I am not the kind of mom that believes everyone deserves a trophy. Kids should have to work hard and see that it’s totally normal to come in last place and if you are the kid that kicked butt you should be rewarded and paraded around. Disappointment is a part of life but that doesn’t mean we can’t help them to find what they are better at. My solution to the cute nursery dilemma only took me a few days to realize.

To save money and to not be wasteful, we are using the same jungle theme nursery theme that was given to us as a baby shower gift for our son. Although I can’t do a beautiful monogram or paint her name across the wall in calligraphy I thought about what it is that I “do” that could qualify as art. I write… Not so cute.  Then it dawned on me… I take photos!

I have photos from our travels from around the world of different safari/jungle/zoo animals and I decided to make her a photo wall. She could have a piece of my creativity that can stay with her as she gets older and at the same time she will see that people have different talents that can still be considered artsy.

Embracing My Gift

Since coming up with this idea, I don’t really feel so inadequate anymore. PMES has left me all together. I found something I can share with my girl that will bring color and life to her nursery walls and at the same time I realize I have a talent that some other people don’t have just like I don’t have the talent to even have nice handwriting to write my name.

God gives us all different gifts and talents and that’s what makes the body of Christ so perfect. If we all could do the same thing with no variety, life would be very boring. It just took me a little while to realize this but it’s a lesson I will be teaching my kids.

“Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly…”

-Romans 12:6