Practice + Toddler

Recently I stumbled upon some articles I wrote for a blog that was never fully birthed called “Rock Mama”.  So step back in time with me to a distant land called 2010, where I was new to mamahood and yet to find an awesome babysitter, although honestly I still rehearse and write this way ALOT!

Practice With Toddler Underfoot (otherwise entitled “Hey Mum! How much fun is it when I post picks through the guitar strings while you’re trying to practice?!”)

If someone suggests to me again that I should practice guitar and work on new songs while my boy is having his nap please forgive me if I deck them. For the following reasons;

1. If I play a guitar I will wake him up.
2. When else in the day am I supposed to eat/shower/go to the loo/do washing/cook dinner/check emails/pay bills or heaven forbid just enjoy a HOT cuppa for 5 minutes?

So I choose to practice with my child underfoot and like all things music post baby this is not the same game it used to be. My boy’s top 3 loves during practice time are;

1. To post any pick I happen not to be using through the guitar strings (and sometimes ones I am trying to use)
2. “Help” me strum
3. Hold onto the neck of the guitar muting all the strings

So my solution has been to give him his own guitar which he plays while I practice and during band practices he has access to a full basket of various instruments. And while it is very off putting I feel it’s prime training for playing in distracting venues. Drunken tambourine theives, motorcycle gangs, noisy mobile phone chatterers and disinterested café crowds are nothing compared to my guitar virtuoso, xylophone prodigy, percussion master toddler. Other during practice activities are dance offs with his older sister, musical-indoor scooter riding, eating lunch and playing with blocks at my feet.

How do other creator-mums fit in their arts practice with or without their kids underfoot?

Want to respark those creative fires post children?  Check out my Glow, Women’s Creativity Retreat. (you can even bring the littles with you and create without fear of pick posters or ninja painters as you’ll have 8 hours a day of babysitting!)

Check out this wonderful interview with Artists Way Julia Cameron for some ideas of integrating creativity and parenthood.