Just Keep Trying...

My daughters and I were watching Little House on the Prairie (one of our favorites), and Ma made new dresses for the girls.

My five yr old asks, "Mom why don't you make dresses for us?"

"Well sweetheart, I don't enjoy sewing and I'm not very good at it. Your grandma sews things for you."

"Oh mom, you're good at everything," she replies. "You just have to keep trying. That's what you tell me... keep trying, don't give up."

How do I explain (she is 5) that I have given sewing many attempts and I do know how, I just don't like it. My mother loves to sew and she can make anything (including my wedding gown). She taught me to sew and I made many dresses in Jr and Sr High as well as numerous other projects from pillows to curtains. I am capable of sewing. I've been trained. I do know how.

I also know that every time I sew bad things happen. This ranges from the machine breaking in some fashion or another, to mistakes cutting out pieces backward, to a number of terrible stresses and interruptions ranging from minor nuisance to major headache and tears.The last time I sewed, I made PJs for Christmas about three years ago... it was such a disaster (the project was complete, but it was gigantically stressful), I promised my husband I would NEVER sew again and he actually dismantled the machine and is now using the parts for one of his experiments.

I enjoy 90% of the things I do in life. I love to be productive. I love to create "finished works," and I enjoy most domestic arts (cooking, baking, most chores, crafts, some gardening, and even "minor sewing" like handwork and making hairbows), but I do NOT like sewing clothes. In fact, apart from "truly bad days" when something of a serious nature happened (like a car accident or serious emergency or concern), I consider sewing to be the fastest way to ruin a perfectly good day.

So, as my daughter pushes and prods, "Mom, please try." How do I tell her I have tried, and this just "isn't my thing." And, how do I teach her that there will be things like that in her life that she can "live without" and doesn't need to master if it "isn't her thing," but there are other things like reading, writing, and arithmetic, where giving up is unacceptable. What do you think?

Written by Kristina Light