I Promised Myself I Would Never Make Slime with the Kids Again, I Banned Slime from this house…Guess What?

Today we made slime!

Little backstory. I’m a pretty easygoing parent, which is to say I don’t think things through fully, which is why I will allow all kinds of ridiculous stuff until it causes problems and then it becomes a rule. Some of the things moved to the ‘no-no list’ include:

• Crayons (worse than texta to get off a wall)
• Kinetic sand (does not come out of carpet EVER)
• Slime (Does not come off carpet or ceilings EVER) (Don’t ask)

Where we are at the moment we are in ‘lockdown’ due to COVID cases in nearby areas. This basically means hubby and I are allowed to go to work, because we have ‘hands on’ jobs that can’t be done from home.

Miss 8 and Mr 5 are on school holidays. As they have two working parents they can go to my parents’ house and Vacation care, which was sort of the plan before the lockdown anyhow. What’s not allowed are the several outings Vacation Care had planned. And it’s been raining or freezing a fair bit so basically they’ve been cooped up inside all week.

Adding to all this lockdown excitement, my son decided to become a massive coughing snot bucket, resulting in a family trip to the local COVID drive through testing set-up. Sometime during the 2 hr wait for our turn Miss Eight asked if we could go through a different type of drive-thru for some hash browns. My answer resulted in a tantrum followed by a short nap.

I was relieved that the night before, (prior to me deciding Vacation care would definitely not accept Mr Snot bucket without medical proof he was not going to get the place shut down) I had done myself a favour and packed the kids lunches, put them in their bags and put the bags in the car! Which we were now stuck in! Thank the lord the kids were much happier whilst snacking (who isn’t?’)

Despite the fact that Mr Snot bucket and I had been busting to pee for over an hour, we managed to make it through our ‘test’ (horrific btw, Snot bucket got a nose bleed, I screamed and cried) and back home again. With dry pants!

We got to stay home together for two whole days. But we all felt terrible and layed around napping or staring at screens. I also felt terribly guilty about having the time off. My anxiety was sky high assuming I’d be sacked for sure.

The worst part about this lockdown in my kid’s eyes was they would be missing out on not one but two ‘Art/Craft/Music Days’ with their Drama/Musical theatre teacher. Let’s call her ‘Ms Poppins’ for the sake of the story.

Ms Poppins is one of those amazing people you meet every now and then that just has so much energy and enthusiasm you don’t believe they are for real. I can just imagine her waking up and opening the curtains with a big smile on her face every morning, singing a show tune before pivoting on one foot, gliding through the door way to make breakfast. Do I want to hang out with her before 10 am? No. Is she absolutely perfect for my high energy children? So much yes.

Ms Poppins is a very talented lady who sings like Marina Prior and plays every instrument. She has the patience of a saint and manages to stay positive even when her students are bouncing off the walls and talking all at once. And she had planned not one but two days this holidays jam packed with creativity for little munchkins, including mine.

So when Miss Poppins told me a few weeks ago that she had planned to make slime with the children on one of the days, how could I tell her? How could I break her over-enthusiastic heart over a silly rule that was obviously made in haste (it wasn’t). What harm could a little slime cause anyway (stained ceiling, ruined carpet)?

I should have been relieved that there would be no slime when I heard that the Art/Craft/Music/Drama had been canceled. But I wasn’t. I was sad for Ms Poppins and I was sad for my kids. I know others have had it a lot worse but gees when is COVID going to stop ruining our plans?

So after this week where Miss Eight and Mr Snot bucket missed out on so much, I determined that we were going to have a good weekend. I did my groceries then I hunted the shops for cheap fun things to do. This ended up including a ‘dig the crystal out of plaster’ set, a box of assorted crafty things (pipe cleaners, googly eyes, pom-poms etc) and YES a slime making kit! Messy, stretchy, sensory, staining, textured, disgusting slime!

The thing is even Miss Eight reminded me of the no-slime rule when I pulled it out of the bag when I got home. I’m inconsistent, we know that! But hopefully the little darlings are a little older and wiser now. They know it stains, they know they play with it at the table, they know that friend that got it on the ceiling must never even know it’s here. So maybe what I’m modelling here is second chances, whether that’s a lesson in whether they should be given or not remains to be seen.