The past two weeks, especially this week, Luca has been having SO many meltdowns after school.

With Christmas coming up and all the fun stuff he's been doing at school, I totally "get" why he starts to cry and scream and be defiant the second he gets home.

He's OVER stimulated and running on "I'm HIGH on life" fumes!

When Camille was his age, she was the same way. She can still have her moments at 8-years-old, but, they're not as intense as they were when she was in Kindergarten (she still benefits from this creative activity I'm sharing...no matter how old she gets!).

Yesterday, he was having another meltdown...

this one was because he had to wait his turn to pick a show on the TV. He had already been upset because we took his slime away that he threw across the table, and all while that was happening, Camille was calmly watching a show while he got all his angry emotions out

so as I was sitting with him, giving him a hug, and thinking of something else we could do to get his mind off of "it's MY turn to pick to show!!!" thoughts, I finally I remembered (because motherhood has been ruling my life and I haven't been doing this as much as I used to!) to ask him if he wanted to "color with me?" while he was in TEARS!

The second I said, "color with me?" he jumped up and said, "YES!!!" and went right over to the table.

Oh gosh! My heart felt SO relieved!!

Instead of going back to cleaning up the dishes from dinner (not an easy thing to do..uh, hello left brain!!) I sat down beside him and we started coloring.

But...here's the thing.

During these moments with my kids, I never color before them.

I never tell them what to draw.

I never tell them how to draw something...even if they ask me. I say, "I don't know how to draw that...can you show me?" (which I may have to say a few times before they finally say, OK!)

I ALWAYS ask them "What are we going to draw today? Let me know, because I'm going to be doing what you're doing! So you gotta tell me every step I need to draw and color, because I don't know."

And their inner CREATIVE self BLOOMS!!!

I do this, because one, it gets their creativity FLOWING!

And, two, if they see me draw something before them or different from them, they SEE it...every single time.

Even if I accidently go ahead, they ALWAYS see it!

And when they see something I've done that's different from them, they ALWAYS stop creating.

They look at mine, look back at theirs, and they say, "Can you draw that for me, Mommy? I don't know how to draw that? I can't draw that? Can you do it?"

They get stuck because they FEEL like they can't draw.

Their CREATIVITY STOPS!!!

And I never, ever want their CREATIVITY to stop.

So, last night, I asked him, "What are we drawing?"

And he said, "Christmas trees!"

And so we did!

I waited for HIM go first and then I drew EXACTLY what he drew in the most EXACT same way as his as I could.

And those meltdowns he was having five minutes before...GONE!!! HELLO, RIGHT BRAIN!!

He was singing, coming up with ideas and was just back to his happy, creative self (hello, right brain!!). He never once spoke of "when is it my turn to pick a TV show?"

Instead, he just kept coming up with CREATIVE ideas for him and I to do.

We made Christmas trees and decorated them with colorful ornaments.

We drew red hearts (but, before that, we cut out pieces of paper and colored them and taped them to the notepad...I forgot to take pics of them...we were having too much creative fun! ha!)

And then we drew him and I playing in the snow together. Awwweeeee!! The best! And a keeper for sure! :)

I even let him choose the color I should draw with, too. I let him choose everything!!

And, just like always, the more him (and I) sat and colored and drew in this way, the more him (and I) started calm and feel good, too.

I never use this time to do my own creative activites, because, for me, I love doing my when I get alone time, so this time, it's all about my kiddos and their creativity, not mine, but, like I said, even though I'm doing the creative activities that I do when I'm alone, I still benefit from the calm creativity provides, no matter who I'm doing it with. :)

Little kiddos have INTENSE emotions...emotions I never want them to stuff down and ignore, but after school, when emotions are high, and they have been in their left brain all day, following rules, learning new material, being on their best behavior, talking to lots of kids and teachers...it's a must they get into their right brain to calm all that (must needed!) stimulation from the day.

My kids NEED creativity to calm their little minds just as much as I do. With our move and learning the new area, I haven't been doing as much.

So when I saw how his mind calmed in an instant (it's a lot easier for little kiddos to switch from left to right brain because they're still very, very balanced with left and right brain activities!) I knew that I have to get back to my passion of not only using creativity to calm my mind everyday, but also, my kids minds everyday, too!

So, yeah...if you're like me and you're feeling overwhelmed with your litlte kiddos intense emotions...pull our some paper, their crayons, markers or colored pencils (or even paints!), sit down with them and ask them, "What are we drawing today?" and let them lead the creative way.

I have no doubt that your kiddo will have a smile on his or her face, will start singing and will keep coming up with SO many creative ideas

No steps. No rules. No grades. No perfect drawings or outcomes. Just fun!

And, yeah...meltdowns?

I don't think you or your kiddos will even remember that a meltdown ever occurred just a few minutes before (and, you'll even have an even calmer evening or day, depending on when you have this little creative moment together!)

It truly is THAT easy and it truly is THAT powerful!

Thank you, mindless CREATIVITY! You ROCK!!!

Until next time....

Why do I (and my kiddos!) doodle? Because it easily calms my mind and soothe's my soul so I don't stay caught up in my mental funk for longer than I need to (something that's hard to do when my mind is running five miles ahead or behind the present moment).