Our polish station, near the kitchen table.

Nail polish is pretty big chez nous.

My eldest clued in to the whole nail painting “thing” when she was four, I think?

And she didn’t look back.

Ever.

My youngest, now 4, is currently pretty obsessed.

So N is for nails.

We went through a phase with my eldest where we’d paint them.

And then they’d chip. Or she’d smudge them, because waiting for them to dry is hard.

So we’d have to do “touch ups”.

Multiple times.

Hourly.

Suffice to say I had a nail painting hate-on for a chunk of 2014.

And I admit to being a bit befuddled by the whole thing.

Because nails were never something I was all that bothered with.

I mainly mastered it in late high school/early university as a study stalling technique.

Nails that are two colours with stripes on one side and dots on the other take time to do and it is important to do them right.

If studying has to wait, well …. big picture.

But outside of exam time?

I had very little interest.

So I wasn’t really prepared when this craze hit.

I bought pink and purple and thought we were set.

Then I did touch ups ad infinitum.

Given my eldest’s challenges with fine motor skills I worried about the table cloths. And the furniture. And the floors. And the walls.

So I POLICED that polish.

But I wanted to encourage her because I figured it was good fine motor practice.

So I was pretty torn/frustrated by the whole thing.

Choosing colours: Yeah! Still pink and purple!

Preschool nails!

And they’re stackable!

Suffice to say I was thrilled when we visited a friends’ lodge in the summer of 2014 and another friend did my eldest’s nails with all the appropriate pageantry.

She offered, my daughter giddily said yes, and suddenly a box with easily over 50 different shades of polish appeared.

Once she’d picked her colours, then there was the whole buffing, clipping and polishing pre-show before polish, then clear cover.

I admit to taking a few mental notes.

I then went home and supplemented our collection.

Since that time, my eldest has gotten better at doing her nails on her own, doing them in one specific place (the kitchen table), and knowing to wait for them to dry. My youngest has also gotten in on the game.

She mastered doing them on her own earlier this year.

Now, I tend to surf the pharmacy sales bins to stock up and I leave a little station near the kitchen table.

So, any nail painting tips for me from those who have been doing this with kids longer than me?