Celebrate the 10th Anniversary of The Artful Parent with me as I look at how my kids art blog and I have grown and evolved over the years.
Updated April 2021
Today is the 10th anniversary of The Artful Parent.
Wow.
This is kind of a big deal.
To celebrate, I’m baking a cherry pie* (for me) and giving away all of my books and products (for you), so make sure to enter the giveaway at the end of this post!
*Despite being a kids’ art blog, my cherry pie recipe remains my most popular post of all time. Go figure!
10 years ago today, I hit ‘publish’ on my very first blog post and basically changed the trajectory of my life.
You know how one little decision can have a huge impact on your life path and those around you? That’s what this has been for me and my family.
The Artful Parent and I have both grown a lot over the years, maturing and evolving together.
Jean Van’t Hul
10 Ways The Artful Parent Changed My Life
- Blogging about children’s art and creativity has influenced how I parent. I’m sure of it. While I probably would have made art and creativity a priority anyway because of my interests and beliefs, blogging about them has made me much more conscious about incorporating them in a regular and meaningful way.
- My knowledge of kids’ art and creativity has greatly expanded over the years.
- My writing and photography have improved by leaps and bounds.
- What started as a creative outlet and way to connect with others evolved into a business over time (with me kicking and screaming half the time about not being a business person, but ultimately being incredibly grateful for the opportunity to support my family doing what I loved.) I even have a team now! An incredible one at that.
- The blog enabled me to become an author of two kids’ art books (which have been published in several languages including French, Russian, Chinese, and Korean), and I’m going to be working on a third one this year.
- I met some of my very best friends because of The Artful Parent.
- The blog has helped me to crawl out of dark places in my own personal life more than once.
- The Artful Parent has allowed a serious introvert like me to share my interests and passions and knowledge with a lot of people around the world. Like millions. That’s just incredible!
- I get to hear stories and thank yous from parents and caregivers and teachers all the time about how my blog or books have affected their parenting and their family. What a privilege to inspire and motivate people to do more art!
- I hear from other seriously awesome bloggers that my blog and/or books inspired them to start a kids’ art class/group and blog. And now they are influencing and helping even more parents and teachers around the world to prioritize art and creativity.
When I sit down to think about it, I am amazed and humbled.
Jean Van’t Hul
That first blog entry 10 years ago, before I really knew what a blog even was changed the trajectory of my life. It continues to affect me and my family in incredible ways. And it seems it has affected and continues to affect others, too. I hope so.
I have so much love and gratitude for you all right now!
Thank you for reading The Artful Parent and helping it to become what it is today and for helping me to become who I am today. I appreciate you from the bottom of my heart.
And if there is a moral in this story, it is this:
That dream you have?
Start it.
Start small. Take the first step. Write the first blog post. Sign up for the class. Make the call.
You never know the impact that first little step might have on the trajectory of your life.
Whatever it is you’re dreaming of, take the first step.
xo,
With love and gratitude and a million thank yous,
Jean
10th Anniversary of The Artful Parent
As a small additional thank you and a way to celebrate this 10 year anniversary, I have a big giveaway package for you with all of the Artful Parent books and products that I have created (a total value of $221.87).
