Beads, Beads Everywhere

My daughter loves arts and crafts. Last year, she discovered ironed beads. You place the beads on pattern blocks and then iron them to make them permanent. It's great for creativity and developing fine motor skills. And of course, it's fun too! She loves the animal patterns most! 

For a few months, we played and played. I loved to make mine look somewhat real, with neat patterns and matching colors. My daughter, who was three at the time, would just put the colored beads on the blocks with no rhyme or reason. The colors wouldn't match, but she didn't care. We had a lot of fun, for a while. 

Then one day, I leave the room for a second, and when I return, there are beads EVERYWHERE. All over the room, under seats, behind the TV; I still haven't found them all. Of course, I ask her what happened. At this age, she was still brutally honest. She says, without any remorse, "I threw them." I was so mad, I couldn't stand it. You see, I'm a neat freak and I had organized the beads (hundreds of them) by color in two craft boxes. And it took a while to do so. I was speechless (which was probably a good thing). 

So that day, she lost her beading privilege until she turned four, when she might be a little more developmentally responsible. I didn't want to see those beads again (I was hoping that, by her birthday a couple months away, I would be more willing to play with beads again). She was very upset, but she needed to know that what she had done would not be tolerated. 

So she turned four a month ago, and she had not forgotten about the beads. After her party, she asks if she can do beads again. I was certainly in a better mood about the beads now and I got them out for her. I even organized the beads again, with help from Dad. We made a few over the next two days, and I ironed them. All was well, for a very short period of time...

No, she didn't make a bead mess again like she had before. But on the second day, I find parts of the animals, like a turtle's head and horse's legs, around the house. I ask her what happened. She had discovered that if you bend them, they'll break, which is really cool to a four-year-old. So I ironed a couple of them back together. Not ten minutes later, I find another beaded body part. I warn her that if she breaks one more, the beads will go away AGAIN. Does she care? Apparently not. The fun is well worth losing the beads. She takes a fish and tears it into 20+ little pieces. 

Well, consistency and follow through are very important in discipline and consequences. So two days after the return of the beads to a more mature four-year-old,  they're gone again. I don't have a time limit this time, because I don't know when she'll be old enough to handle the beads. You know, I really liked the beads, but what she needs to learn about listening, following directions, responsibility and consequences is far more important. 

(Sigh) Bye bye beads!