We Only Write on Paper
Each of my children has gone through a phase where they want to express themselves by coloring on large canvases. Unfortunately, these tend to be the surfaces upon which we least want them to color. The floor, the wall, the furniture all are exciting places for my boys to see their art work spring to life.
There seems to be a certain age at which this occurs. In my experience it's right around the two year mark, and they seem to outgrow it sometime before they turn four. Of course, there's the occasional relapse and sometimes an older child (who knows better) will lose their mind and inappropriately "decorate" my home.
My youngest seemed to hit this phase early and got my couch with permanent marker not once, but twice in one week when he was just 18 months old. Both times, the offending markers were on high shelves. He just climbed up and got them while I was distracted. We learned, too late, that over time (and sitting on it) the marker will fade. Unfortunately, I had already damaged the finish of the leather trying to get it off.
After this traumatic, destructive experience, I packed up all the art supplies and only would get them out when the baby was sleeping. It worked fine. The kids still got to do their coloring, but it was always back in it's safe place before he woke up from his nap.
Recently, I noticed that the little boy had learned how to sit still briefly, and he would even scribble on paper every now and then, so I made the crayons a little more accessible. I let my guard down with the ink pens. (Not the permanent markers, though. I hide those until I often can't find them myself when I need them!) My art loving boys have been thrilled with the ability to draw and color whenever they should desire.
This week my floor has been colored on twice. Today, I sat down on the couch and out of the corner of my eye... no it couldn't be.. but oh, yes it was. Somehow, the little guy got ahold of a ball point pen & went to town on the couch. Fortunately, it came off with no real effort, but this serves as a reminder to me to keep my guard up with the art supplies again. Hopefully, it won't take a total lock down again.
Original post to Deep South Moms.
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