parenting hacks

Glitter is a word that can strike instant panic into even the most crafty parent. It's something that a lot of parents (and many schools) won't allow across the threshold because it's known to stick around for months, sometimes years. It gets stuck to everything, even your child’s hair. No one is immune from its sticky little wrath of sparkle. But what if you succumb to its allure? Or your job requires you to work with those little shiny flakes? How do you keep tiny hands out of the pot when you're not around?

For one mom, keeping it hidden away in her craft room was the solution and it worked out well. That was, until her toddler found her way into the space unsupervised and decided to turn a perfectly tidy room into a snow globe of glitter. Hayley Colton, who makes custom tumblers and shares her work on TikTok, recently discovered that her toddler set off a glitter bomb in her workspace. But instead of getting angry and yelling, Colton realized her daughter was emulating what she saw her mom do on a near-daily basis.

Colton posted a video to TikTok to explain: “So my daughter got into my glitter and made her own little glitter mixture, and rather than flipping out like I probably do too often, I sat back and thought about it and realized she watches me every day make stuff and play in this glitter. I can’t blame her for wanting to play in it too.”

After the incident, Colton collected as much of the glitter as she could pick up and put it in a small box so she could turn her daughter’s mixture into something she could use every day. She grabbed a small metal tumbler and got to work coating it with epoxy and sprinkling the glitter onto the tumbler, adding some lettering. The adorable little tumbler reads, “If I’m a mess, that means I have been learning #toddlerlife.” Colton admitted she loved the glitter mixture her daughter made and thinks the tumbler turned out pretty cute.

Commenters on the video loved how Colton handled the situation and praised her for being calm, when it would’ve been easy to be upset. One commenter said “We love non toxic parenting,” with a smiling emoji with floating hearts. Another wrote, “Question: Did you have any kind of calm discussion about like asking first or boundaries after this happened?” To which Colton replied, “Yes, of course we had a talk about only mixing glitter with mommy and not by herself.”

Parenting can be hard sometimes, and it’s helpful to see how other parents handle stressful situations, and maybe pick up some tips. Colton handled this situation like a champ and by sharing about it publicly, she’s showing other parents how to turn mess into art. Looks she’s got a future business partner on her hands.