Mom-a-rama

(This is from a post I wrote somewhere else yesterday.)



When does a first grader's diorama become a Mom-a-rama?



So there is this interesting issue that has come up with my friends. Many of us have first graders that have been assigned a diorama based on a habitat of some kind. I learned of this from a friend of mine on the day it was assigned. I hadn't even looked at the take-home-folder, yet, when she asks, "So what did you get?"



Hunh?



"Diorama," she continues. "My son got the ocean, but if we were lucky it would have been the arctic! Snow, snow, snow."



I laugh and forget about it.



The next day, "So what'd ya get?"



Hmm.



I still didn't know, but now I was getting that ol' competitive feeling. My friend is a talented and cool mom and it is easy to try to keep up with her. I think she feels the same way (at least about the competitive angle) and was really funny when she kept stopping herself from revealing 'secrets' to her good diorama. I started laughing.



I immediately got a hundred great ideas for an ocean diorama, but just as immediately realized that it wasn't my assignment. I said that to my friend, but she laughed and said, "Yeah, right. And then I tell you all about our project and you amp up yours by tenfold."



I laughed again. (It really did sound like something I would do... or at least think of doing!)



So, instead I suggested that we do our own dioramas and submit them along with our (child concept and completed) dioramas. I even jokingly called them Mom-a-rama's.




Here's where it gets tricky.




Suddenly (as in the next day) I heard several other moms talking about the diorama. One mom spent what sounded like $50 on her child's project. (I think my mouth was open a little when I heard that...) Another mom looked absolutely disgusted that anyone would do more than watch their child make it.




I asked my daughter in an off-hand manner (at least I tried), "Got any ideas for your diorama?"





She did! A lot. The media teacher at her school had given them a ton of examples and suggestions. She said she has a good idea of what she wants.

I've come to this resolution: I'll let her do her diorama, giving technical assistance when asked. But, I'm going to re-suggest to my friends (whose kids have the same assignment) that we do our Mom-a-rama's and show each other. Maybe it will get that creative energy out that some of us seem to have in excess! Wish me luck!


UPDATE:

I started my Mom-a-rama, but I didn't get any further than a background color and a half-formed turtle... The kids insisted I help them (which means schlepping supplies and cleaning brushes!). Grace wouldn't even THINK of using mine for her diorama. (I was a little insulted, but she just had to be like Liv and do it herself... ergh.)

So, I recycyled my start into the girls' Betas' background... looking gooooddddd....