BPEC Messy Art

I will admit that when I first started going to BPEC, Burbank Parent Education Center, I just did it to get out of the house. It was when Erik was a baby and at the same time I was taking a class at the hospital. I love the instructor at the hospital so much that BPEC just couldn't compete. Also the girls I friended in the BPEC class were "too cool" for it and stopped going so I dropped out for a year.

Then when I had two kids I started going back, once in the multi-age and then I started taking Erik to the two-year old class and I fell in love with the program. The class I take with Erik, had several mom's I had known from the hospital class and other mom's I had met along the way; I felt like I was home. It was a place for me to get one-on-one time with Erik, but also a place where I connected with other moms.

This year I am going twice, one class for Elliot and one class for Erik, skipping the multi-age class. Its fun going through the program with Elliot because I have met a whole new group of mom's and kids Elliot's age and have connected with some new and wonderful people. So from a girl who was unsure about BPEC, I really like the connections I get with other parents in the program and my kids absolutely love it too.

The program follows the school year and is closed all summer, but we are in the special activities round right now. First up was messy art which I took Erik too last year. Erik did maybe one or two projects and was done so I hesitated to take Elliot.  I eat my words when I say Elliot doesn't like art.

Elliot literally moved around enthralled by almost every project. From painting to gluing to stamping he just liked it all. He especially liked the rice and digging around in the bucket. By the last room though I knew he needed to just play and didn't even ask him to do an art project, but it was really good while it lasted. 

At the end of messy art it reminded me again why I love BPEC. My friend Tracy went with me to messy art today and we decided to hang out at the playground until I had to leave to pick Erik up from preschool. At the park there was a friend from Erik's BPEC classes whom I love talking too, another girl I know from several classes and one other mom I took a semester with in the multi-age class, not even sure if she remembered me. We were all sitting around minding our own children when the topic of camping comes up and then everyone just connected had a great conversation and just had good mom, and family talk while our kids play. This is why BPEC is great, just the instant connection and the good information I get from everywhere. You never know when someone will have some good insight for you.