Kids drawing on walls- when does it stop?

[NotPicasso]

Basically what the title says, does it ever stop? DS is 8, and randomly draws on my walls, still! It’s probably every month or two, he writes his name, or just squiggles, or lines. This time he’s written his brothers name on his bed to try and pretend it was his brother that did it, not him. He’s ASD, but I don’t think it has anything to do with that? He always lies at the beginning, and then confesses within a few minutes. He knows it’s wrong, he gets in serious trouble every time. We live in a rented house with cream walls so it’s a nightmare. Is it normal for an 8 year old to draw on walls? Is it something to do with his autism? Is he just being a pain in the arse and I need to think of a way to somehow punish him more?

It's usually boredom....potentially with ADHD in my experience

I was going to say my kids have never drawn on my walls....but then we don't have a lot of empty walls tbh and not often left to own devices when younger.

But then I realised we have very similar thing. And we do have ADHD.

I am a doodler, as is my youngest. Scribbles and doodles on ever text book, magazines. Once or twice they have done something on the table or their desk and I have read the riot act.

Also if you look my my kids beds when they are going to sleep they pick at the wall paper and even draw there.

His ASD maybe makes it harder to control.
Have you looked at white board or chall board paint? Or just those static cling whiteboard sheets?

Never started for our three we made clear it was absolutely unacceptable and provided lots of scribbling opportunity we had an a frame with blackboard one-side and whiteboard the other maybe that would help?

Never had this.
Grandson age nine ASD.
He used to love his easel.. always drawing and doing maths on it.
Maybe get him an easel?

I'd be removing every pen in the house and only returning them when kids are seated at the table, supervised. That would stop it.

I wouldn't say it's normal.... but not abnormal.

I've got one who's autistic and one who's not and neither of them have ever drawn on walls. However every autistic person is different. It might be a sensory/stimming thing?

Could you get some huge rolls of paper and hang them on the wall so he can still do it in a controlled way?

https://www.thewatsoninstitute.org/watson-life-resources/situation/replacement-behavior-writing-wall/#:~:text=If%20he%20draws%20on%20the,his%20using%20the%20replacement%20behavior.

Some advice here. I think it’s very likely connected to his autism so it’s a question of helping him redirect that urge in a better way.

“He’s ASD”

I would bet it’s because of that. He doesn’t understand the social norms or why it’s not ok. Explain it to him very factually.

My child is same age and still doesn’t get things like this / suspected ASD.

I think you need to put a firm boundary in place.

he can draw on paper when being supervised but all pens go away and are kept away.

My kids have never drawn on the walls.

I echo the above pp. If it keeps happening then pen's are only available when supervised, other than that away they go

And what are the consequences of his actions?

None of mine had unsupervised access to pens until I was certain they wouldn’t do it.

Mine never did and there wouldn’t be a crayon or pen in the house if they did

but your circumstances are different would managing it rather than trying to stop it be a better way
you can get blackboard paint for walls or double width lining paper you could tack to wall to give a designated area

My dc have never drawn on walls and I would say 8 is quite old to be doing so, however it is probably linked to his ASD.

What happens when he does it? What does he say about why he does it? Does he have lots of paper etc around (maybe different textures etc so he can get some of the same feedback as a wall would give).

It’s certainly not common beyond preschoolers, so I wouldn’t be so quick to assume ASD wasn’t a factor.

I’m not saying it’s abnormal, but it’s not a run of the mill, widely experienced phenomenon once they’re old enough to know not to.

That’s what relatives did when their DC did this.

This is one thing that mine didn’t do - but I’m not sure why they didn’t. Yes, we had an easel and there was always paper around, but I think it just didn’t occur to them, fortunately.

We have a no pens or pencils upstairs rule, he’s used a car wheel to drag along the wall to draw on it in the past. He’s used shampoo, he’s used rubber toys that mark. This time he’s taken one from the cupboard downstairs and snuck it upstairs while I wasn’t looking. We have a chalk board/white board in the play room, and the pens are kept up high. I have more than one so can’t completely ban drawing equipment because my other child loves crafting

I try to do natural consequences so usually it’s removal of drawing equipment, not being able to do an activity because we have to clean or repaint the walls, I always make him spend some time scrubbing to try and get it off to begin with, this time I’ve removed his iPad and switch because he loves them and I’m pissed off.

to those who’ve mentioned ADHD, we are on the (years long!) waiting list to be assessed for adhd, but the people who assessed his autism said it’s very likely he has adhd too

It’s highly likely because of the neurodiversity. Two of my children are diagnosed, the older one hasn’t drawn on walls since being a toddler (on himself is a whole different matter!) but the 6 year old thinks the world is his canvass (or maths book in his case). I can’t see that changing anytime soon, so this is a crayon only house under strict supervision at that. Makes it a nightmare when coming to form filling or card writing looking for the one pen I’ve hidden in this house!

It’s not normal. My son is autistic and has never drawn on the walls. But he also has no access to pens unless we are specifically getting them out to draw. I would punish this behaviour very harshly because it’s unacceptable.

‘Punish very harshly’ - you can’t punish autism or adhd out of a child. What exactly would this ‘harsh punishment’ be, exactly? And impulsive and sensory seeking behaviour is perfectly normal, I actually cannot believe you have a ND child with the language and aggression coming from this post…

I don't think it's abnormal, I've known plenty of wall drawers (including my DD).

Instead of trying to punish it out of him, have you tried giving him a wall to draw on? Use double sided sticky tape to put up a couple of pieces of lining paper and let him draw away.

As others have said, give him a wall to draw on, whether that's a whiteboard or just taping off an area of wall that he can go wild on and you can paint over it, or a chalk board etc.

Encourage the creativity - it's not a bad way to express himself, as long as he's doing it on an area that doesn't matter.

I do think if he's deliberately going out of hus way to do it then he must be getting something out if it ...even if its just attention. These natural consequences like scrubbing the wall probably aren't much of a deterrent....lots of kids especially ND kids like doing things like that.
I think at 8, even with ASD taking hus ipad away for a short time is probably appropriate but also reward him (with attention ideally) for drawing on paper or his chalk board, and reward him (stick chart/sweets) for every day he doesn't draw on the walls.

I don’t think it’s normal, mine have never drawn on the walls.

for those saying let him draw on one wall, will that not encourage the behaviour? I’ve always avoided bath crayons and bags/t-shirts/tablecloths that you colour in because I don’t want to confuse him. I’ve always said colouring and drawing is for paper, it’s not allowed on the walls/sideboard/beds? we have a painting easel that is half whiteboard and half chalkboard, chalks are always out and pens have to be asked for.

It’s not something that we ever experienced at any age - DD knew that it was something we simply just cannot do and that was that. You need to make it very clear to him OP that it is a) unacceptable and b) will have severe repercussions should he do it again as obviously he isn’t aware of this.