Making Alters

Child care advice 101...
In my extensive experience with children I have learned one thing without doubt. They respond FAR better to POSITIVE reinforcement than to punishment.
What this means is that they are far more apt to alter their behavior in a desired manner, if they think it will result in some much loved reward, rather than out of fear of some much loathed punishment.
With this in mind, it is essential to be constantly thinking of things that will engage, stimulate, amuse, and make them feel special, all the time.
One of the things I remember doing with my mother, that I cherish the memory of and have taken into my life and embraced even as an adult, is 'making alters'.
If I ever do end up having a kid, it will definately be an activity that I share with them.
It was a simple and yet intimate experience that involved taking a window, or bookshelf, or unadorned nook, and decorating it as a still-life.
We called 'Making Alters' and we filled them with things collected from our lives.
Plants, and toys and rocks from the beach.
My mother has this wonderful habit of buying strange and unusual toys that she comes across in odd stores in her hunt for the best deal, with the sole purpose of using them in alters...
or the garden... but that's another tale...
We took objects from jewelry chests, and magazines, and disrupted alters from earlier days without sadness...
it lent an ephemeral beauty to their creation...
like bouquets of flowers you know will soon decay, and thus their beauty gives such an immediate... privileged sense of pleasure...
Above all it is a cherished and well-loved memory I have of my mother... her eyes bright and her laugh easy, as we searched the house for the perfect adornment...

I will add more pics of our alters as I come across them... and create them...