It’s become a common sight to see stay-at-home parents. A dad and a mom who work from home can get overwhelmed by everything. There’s the kids to think about, chores, errands, cleaning, making food for the family, and remaining sane through it all! Some mothers or fathers take it upon themselves to provide the much-needed rest!

The Beginning Is Rough

A writer stirred up quite a discussion because her recent explanation of how she decided to cope with her overwhelming life also shares her overwhelming routine. She shares that she is a mother of four children of different ages, and her morning begins bright and early. She has to get lunch for her husband, tend to the toddler, and feed the other kids, and that’s just her morning. Who wouldn’t want a break?

The Stress and Chores Continue

The mom continues to talk about her routine, and you can get a headache just from reading about it. After all her morning chores, she has to tuck away the kids and continue with the laundry, cooking, and tending to the home. Her husband has a morning-to-evening shift at work, so she has to rely on herself alone. That would make anyone a little crazy.

The Mom That’s Never Understood

When you’re feeling stressed and overwhelmed, you want your partner to sit and listen to you and support you in every way he can. Well, the woman with the controversial post wanted her husband’s support after sharing how tired she was, but he got angry. He told her the job was easy and she shouldn’t complain about doing it. That’s what triggered her to take the next step!

She Reached Her Limit

The mom said she couldn’t take it anymore and started yelling that she would let her husband do everything instead while she sat and played video games. Sure enough, even with angry phone calls from her mother-in-law and angry comments from her husband, she stayed true to her word — she locked herself in the room and played video games all day!

There were various comments about the tactics of the mom, and not all were encouraging and motivational. People told her to try couples therapy. They wondered how she could ignore her family like that — even her mother-in-law wondered the same. But at the end of the day, the woman knew she needed a much-deserved break after two years, and she gave it to herself!

You’ve probably seen the happiness in your kid’s eyes when they’re splashing in puddles or doing any other messy activity. The good news is that getting wet or sticky is also a component of healthy development. You should not deprive your kids of a chance to get messy and this is why should try these four messy crafts.

Messy Crafts 101: Paint Splattering

Lay cardboard or drop cloth on the ground and give the child a piece of paper. Let them squish some paint on a cotton round and put it on the paper, with the paint side down. After, give the little one a wooden spoon and let them smash the round. See what will happen and let them experiment with other methods of paint application too!

Making Pasta Noodles from Scratch

Your kids will truly enjoy being covered in a gluey, pasty dough and then see how it comes together to create the pasta dishes they love! All you need are pasta ingredients and a simple dough scraper you can get for cheap and use to remove any residue from your countertops.

Press Paper Pulp

With this messy craft, your kids will not only learn how to make paper but also a bit of botany. You will need water, construction paper, a blender, a large bowl, a packet of wildflower seeds, cookie cutters, old or inexpensive window screens, and flower petals.

Let your kids go crazy tearing paper into little bits and then soak them in water for an hour. Put them into the blender with some extra water and blend until you form a damp, not runny, sludge. Add extra water in the process if needed and make sure this step is handled by an adult! Pour the mixture back into the bowl, put almost all the seeds in it, and stir. Then put the screen on the ground and the cookie cutters on top. Let your kids fill the cutters with the mixtures and decorate with petals and more seeds. Once they are dried, pop them out of the cutters and you can put them in soil and get real flowers to sprout from the paper ones you made!

Squish Shaving Cream

You will need a few water-resistant toys, a bin or a kid’s pool, and cans of shaving cream or foamy kids’ soap. Put all the toys into the bin and put shaving cream on top. Let your kid go looking for them in the cream and get real messy! It’s one of the messy crafts all kids just love to do!