Story: I am Inspired

by Designing Mom Ryan of Tin Parade

Did any of you read The Last Lecture written by father of three and professor, Randy Pausch? At the time in 2007, he was dying of pancreatic cancer…he gave this amazing lecture on fulfilling your childhood dreams to his students at Carnegie Mellon. It’s been made into a book and you can also watch it here. I always love remembering something he said in that lecture:

“When I was in high school, I decided to paint my bedroom.
I always wanted a submarine and an elevator... And the great thing about this is
they let me do it. And they didn't get upset about it. And it's still there.
If you go to my parent's house it's still there. And anybody who is out there
who is a parent, if your kids want to paint their bedroom, as a favor to me
let them do it. It'll be OK. Don't worry about resale value on the house.” (from The Last Lecture)

I, like so many others, was inspired by his powerful message. He had learned something from the hardship he and his family was enduring and he decided to do something to benefit not only his own children, but many many other people simply by sharing his lessons…they are valuable lessons for us all. The lesson that has stuck with me on a day to day basis…as a parent...is this idea of letting our children paint their walls…yes literally…but it means something philosophically as well…help your children find their creativity...nurture it…I love the idea of letting my child be free to express himself whenever he needs to.

At the same time….“Mommy expressed herself when she designed and decorated your room!” “Don’t you love what mommy did????” I’m sure many of you creative moms can relate. So how do we both, instill in our kids an appreciation for good design and a respect for their personal objects? We want them to know it’s important to keep our things nice and neat…that’s a good thing to teach them…but…how wonderful to give them ample room for creative expression. I have some found ways to do this and so has my Tin Parade partner, Kristen. We each have created a sort of art nook behind our kids bedroom doors where they can hang all their precious creations.

Photo by Laura Kleinhenz at Docuvitae

…..and Kristen has a great chalkboard wall at kid friendly height that they can do whatever they want on.

Photo by Laura Kleinhenz at Docuvitae.

I also have two chalkboard sections on my sons walls. These have worked great for us but I’d love to hear from some of you on what you did like this to nurture your child’s artistic side. Anyone let their kids paint a wall? I’d love to see it!

Also, I had to share this great product I came across in Land of Nod. It’s a wallpaper of frames…has anyone used this? I am dying to design a children’s room with this for someone.