We got more homework from the school. “Design an Easter bonnet. Be as creative as you like.” People shouldn’t say this to me. It sounds too much like a challenge.

We decided on doing the Easter Chicken. Well everyone’s always talking about the chicks and the eggs. The poor old chicken gets no credit! This was meant to be just a small project. And a small bonnet. It kind of grew into a big Rooster and it took hours. I bought all these feathers and sequins so they had to be used! Seanan was starting to get a little bored after two hours but Mum was still in the zone. Cutting and sticking. Cutting and sticking…

When he went to try it on this morning I was a little bit precious about it to say the least. I wasn’t finished with the sticking. The girls in the house were buzzing around the pretty bird with the pink feathers and the glitter. Seanan’s lack of enthusiasm for having to be the model was apparent. Plus it kept wobbling off his head in the wind. Feathers and bits were blowing away. All my hard work was getting ruined!  Just to make matters worse, as we were heading out the door his Dad whispered to me,

“Don’t you think it looks a bit camp? It is just a school Easter parade – not Rio de Janeiro!”

Typical.

When he got to class he wouldn’t put it on and just decided to carry it under his arm instead. At first I couldn’t understand why he wasn’t pleased with all this hard work and why he didn’t want to show it off.  Then realisation dawned. The ‘artiste’ was gone and the ‘parent’ kicked in. How could I have not seen this?  He was torn between me and his classmates. Not wanting to look silly and not wanting to hurt mummy’s feelings.

I totally missed the fact that little boys in the first year of school just want to blend in. They are learning all these new social skills which we take for granted. They don’t want to stand out from the crowd. That’s tough enough when you are a head taller than anyone else, never mind sticking a two-foot Rooster on top. So there I was getting so carried away with being creative, doing something different, when a simpler approach would have been the best solution for my quiet child.

Today I was reminded of valuable lesson. “Not everyone thinks the way you do.” Making people happy is what’s important. Creative intentions/obsessions shouldn’t get in the way of that.

Anyway it turned out well afterall. All the kids got chocolate eggs from school. The Easter bunny turned up and stole all the attention from the Easter chicken who is now perched proudly on Seanan’s top shelf. He did love it, he didn’t need to wear it, and he didn’t see why he had to go showing it off to all his friends. Kids know stuff that us adults have forgotten.

Here is a picture of Seanan wearing the Easter chicken. Which actually, in hindsight, does look a bit over the top. But fabulous in a camp way all the same!

BTW: I was not alone in the obsessive bonnet-making behaviour going on over the weekend. A certain photographer chum was even tweeting about working out their 3D rendering plans first!