To not want 2YO having felt tip pens

In theory they're ok supervised, but In reality a child of that age can't even hold a pen to make Marks properly yet, so something like a crayon is easier to use and they learn to press to draw. Even supervised it's inevitable a 2 year old will end up with felt tip all over them due to poor motor control. Not all of them come off that easily, but must proper branded ones do, it's just a bit if a pain. Assuming all drawing materials are kept for supervised times id start with crayons as they are easy to use and not messy. Having said that if they escape wax is a pain to remove. All of my children have had lots of art stuff but I did hold off the felts for a bit and when I did,I had a good brand of washable ones. Keep them for a bit, practice with something else then use them together.

Getting them into colouring is a god send for eating out with toddlers, my 2yo has a pencil case with the Bic ‘ultra washable’ felt pens in and a variety of sticker books and colouring books, just don’t leave them unsupervised, sit and colour with them for a bit and model how we use pens to colour and draw and put the lids on. My DD’s nursery has them all using felt pens to mark make, supervised, and I’ve never seen pen on the walls etc there, even with 12 toddlers in a room using them

I think it's a bit much to object to it. I would keep them up high and get them out to do some colouring or drawing together, then put them away when finished with them.

The same as I do with playdoh, scissors, or stickers. It's just a non issue? I also wouldn't give a 2yo free access to felt tip pens but it is a very normal thing for them to have for use under supervision. They are much easier to draw with than crayons for little hands when they haven't worked out how to do pressure yet.

What's stopping you from sitting and using the pens with them? Or teaching them not to scribble on things they shouldn't?

@AnneLovesGilbert I just don’t want felt pen all over the walls/furniture. Contrary to this thread this doesn’t make me a bad parent. We do plenty of arts and crafts, painting, play doh, glitter, every except felt pens, I ….unsurprisingly (according to this thread) my children are not traumatised by this and quite frankly do not care that we don’t have any felt pens (they’ve never even asked for any).

Will never forget when I asked a neighbour if there was anything in particular her 4 year old wanted for his birthday. Her response was "nothing that makes a mess - paint, play doh, glitter, slime." She didn't allow any of that in the house because she "just couldnt cope with the mess". What a utterly depressing life for that kid.

Let your kid have the pens and teach them NOT to scribble on the walls or furniture, job done. Mine have had felt tips for as long as I can remember and have somehow managed to resist graffitiing the house with them.

It's almost as if different children have different skills, interests and levels of development.
One child will sit and look at a book while another at the same age will scribble all over it or rip the pages out before you can say "Careful"...
You know your child, OP. You also know your own tolerance levels.

What’s the worst that could happen if they got to use them?

My mum bought my 4 year old felt pens and a
colouring book for his birthday….it became a present that stayed at Nans house to play with when there. I kinda trust the 4 year old with them (mostly) but we also have a 2 year old who would likely also
want to play with them.

Under supervision, no problem. I just put them away up high with the glitter and glue. (I didn't put the glitter out of the way until the morning I came down stairs to a glitter Armageddon. It was everywhere 😱😱😱).

Sharpies? No!
Anything else? Yes, great!
Experimenting and (shock horror) making mistakes is how we all learn.
Or you are the type of risk adverse parent who just sticks their child in front of an iPad watching shite all day because it’s less messy?
Because you have no idea how childhood works

Yabu. Both my children started using felt tips at just turned 1. They both adore colouring, and it’s an easy 15 minute or so activity. My 1 year old asks for her pens after breakfast every day.

Also, if you don’t do any sitting down activities with them, they won’t get better at sitting down. It only has to be for 2 mins at first. But definitely keep the pens up high when not in use!

This.

our kids have had felt tips since they could first hold them and make marks. And when we do colouring and drawing together they can use crayons, pens, pencils, paints. We don’t let them loose around the house with them, we’re not crazy 😜 My 3 year old can write his name already.

Why are you so uptight about this? I don’t get it.

At that age they're better standing up to draw and paint anyway so they can use their whole body.

I’ve got an older one too so DS has been using felt tips since he could hold a pen and I regularly pop him in a big cardboard box with a handful of pens and let him go mad. It’s lovely. They’re not specifically washable but it comes off skin in the bath.

I recommend those books with wipeable black pages and chalk tip felt tips, they’re brilliant for using out and about and fun and colourful but easy to clean up.

And that's why they start school unable to use pencils, paintbrushes etc. or, even worse, scared to use them in case they get dirty hands. It's sad

I have a 2 year old and think it's really sad that you don't want yours to have felt tips. They are such a standard thing to have at home. Do you not let them paint either? Playdoh? Bake? Loads of things have the potential to create a mess.

Surely you just keep messier art supplies out of reach and sit with them when they use them?

Yeah you're being unreasonable, just put them out of reach and get them out when you're doing supervised colouring/crafting. Paint, pens, scissors, glue all just needs to be supervised.

Having said that I also like the Crayola mess free colouring sets and those magic painting books that you just use a little water!

Yup, “toddler doesn’t have felt tip pens” is definitely a sad story if ever there was one 🙄

Just take the pens with you when you go to MIL house and they can play with them whenever they are there. x

The average 2 year old is really only going to sit down and do arts and crafts nicely for 5 mins half an hour max so it's not difficult to avoid loo breaks

Mine has had them since about 18 months, ultra washable ones and we taught her to try keep to the paper.

She also won't sit down and is happier outside like your DC, but we got a small kids table so she can stand while she draws and that keeps her engaged longer.

@wovencloth

sometimes with the best will in the world we can’t predict when we’ll need the toilet and do have to rush off to the loo. Surely you’re not saying that op should just piss herself rather than disturb the arts and crafts activity?

@ERthree

lol do you should only have a child if you’re prepared for your house to be a state with your walls covered in felt tip pen?!