The Value of Creating

By Heather Fontenot

When I was growing up, there was no need for actual discussion of repurposing materials, it was just a daily part of life. If your jeans had a hole in them, you repaired them. If a table cloth got a spill, you created something decorative to go over it.

All of my girlfriends knew how to sew, for as far back as I can remember, and we made doll clothes from old sheets or our own outsized clothes. It was not only repurposing for functional items that were made, but tents in the backyard, or fun pocketbooks from repurposed bedding.

I learned to knit around the age of 11, and I remember my mother and grandmother expecting me to make my own hats, mittens and scarves. It wasn’t something that was forced on me, but it was what I watched them do, so it was simply a logical step.
We weren’t unable to buy the things that we needed, there was nothing preventing us from collecting closets full of clothes, or fancy items, it was just simply not a part of the culture that we lived. We enjoyed a beautiful home, but the pillows and the curtains, the bed spreads and the napkins were handmade.

As we watch our society returning to a simple way of life, where we grow our own food, sew our own clothes, and enjoy the peace and tranquility of handcrafting, it gives us an opportunity to let our children experience perhaps the most important lesson that we can impart; the value of all that we have.

My husband and I made a decision when our oldest first graced us with his presence that we would keep our children out of the commercial world for as long as possible. Our little ones have yet to enter a toy store, or a clothing shop. Our goal here was to show them the value of what they already have, and how they can create their own toys, or their own imaginative world through the essentials that are already within our home.
Both of my sons learned to knit and sew by the age of four, and both make their own stuffed animals, capes, dress up clothes, backpacks, etc. There will be plenty of time for the rest; for the commercial aspect of life that is inevitable that they will become a part of, but for now, the value of creating is a gift that we can give that will have an impact in every part of their lives.

Giving our wee ones the space to create and play, to use the materials that they already have, to grow their own food and tend their own space is essential. The creation of value and connection is the only way to ensure that our next generation will care for the land that they inherit, and the world that they share.