Fairy Dust Fever

"Fairy Dust," a.k.a. glitter

As a little girl, I absolutely loved glitter. Seeing glitter automatically brought to mind images of fairies, magic, and pretty princesses of faraway lands. It could take the dullest of art projects and turn them into beautiful masterpieces (in my young mind). Nevertheless, now that I’m an adult, I have learned the unpleasant--almost evil--side of this art supply.

My daughter has been a fairy and princess fanatic since she was a tiny toddler. Anything pink, purple, and sparkly quickly catches her eye and captures her fancy. In her world, these are the things that spread happiness to one and all . . . but when her world and mine collided two summers ago, there were some very unhappy campers!

One dreary, rainy weekend, I was busy as ever, trying to get my household chores finished before another hectic week started. My son and daughter (then 4 and 3) were moping around the house, disappointed that the rain was interrupting our plans to go to the playground. I tried to cheer them up, but not even their favorite ice cream with sprinkles improved their moods any.

I then thought to myself about all the rainy summer days I had to endure as a child and how arts and crafts tended to make those days pass a little easier. So, before I headed to the kitchen to wash some dishes, I brought out all the craft supplies I had buried in my closet and gave them some paper and glue in the dining room.

They squealed with delight and immediately went to work on transforming their plain paper into works of art. As I washed dishes, I kept glancing over, admiring their little smiles and listening to their laughter as they used markers and crayons and glued little odds and ends onto their projects. After a while, I needed a bathroom break and thought it would be fine to leave them for a minute since I didn’t give them scissors.

When I returned, though, not even 5 minutes later, I found a pink, purple, glittery mess all over my downstairs. In shock, I asked my kids what had happened, and without skipping a beat, my sweet daughter replied, “You like it, Mommy? I wanted to make us all happy, so I put fairy dust all over!”

I absolutely adored her intentions and couldn’t stay upset with her for very long, but months later, we (and our pets) were still wearing her ‘happiness,’ no matter how many times I vacuumed. To all the fairy princesses out there, please remember a little glitter goes a long way . . . PLEASE use sparingly!