To hate it when they want to get the paints out?

[darcymum]

I have three DCs ages 4, 3(just) and 19 months, and I do despair when they want to do some painting. I make them wait until the little one is in bed but I know I can't do this much longer, she's going to want to join in, oh the mess....

I know I wont win any mother of the year competitors but I'm not entering any anyway.

i don't own paints but my heart sinks when ds wants the play doh out! plasticibe is much cl;eaner, but no, has to be play doh

I hate it when painting happens.

Everything goes sludge brown. It is out for about 10 min and then you have to tidy and clean for about 20 min.

I have found some that are like roller ball deodorants that do alleviate this though.;

Yanbu at all!

yanbu. I hate it too. I make my 5 year old wait til my 22 month old is in bed to do anything like that. I already weep at the state of my ill-advised cream sofa, I can do without extra damage

lol No we stopped having paints very early on too playdooh too followed instead I duly took them to different craft places/playgroup things where they could indulge without my feeling like I was a c* mother.

as they grew older we went to more nice things like paper cutting and filt tips something that worked ofor us

YABU

And for some unknown reason I told the dcs we could paper bloody mache this week,
why, why, why when I have a 3 year old who drew a blue stickman on my chimney breast (and lots of blue squiggles) all because she wanted it to be a lazytown room, there was me thinking it was my living room!

YANBU - even the supposedly washable ones are so hard to clean.

OOOPS supposed to be YANBU

Just don't have paints in the house.

All that mess for such a small amount of play.

ah lucky for me my kitchen walls are damp and crumbly and the floor is dented ,ugly and generally vile (both will be mended/replaced in time) so I don't give a crap about paint splashes and it gives DD something to do while I drink excessive amounts of coffee and trawl through mumsnet. haha!

YANBU. Hallelujah for nursery and school that's where painting is allowed, not in my house.

DD, now 7, has learned never to ask anymore.

If you have a patio or at least some paving slabs of some sort you can send them outside with a bowl of water and a paintbrush and they can paint the slabs. A summer/dry weather activity admittedly.

YANBU. I like the painting, the mess etc but I Hate Clearing Up so that takes the shine off it all.

I was clearing out cupboards the other day and ds found some brushes so wanted to do painting. Before I knew it he'd filled up a cup at the bathroom sink and my heart sank waiting for the "paints mummy can I have the paints pleaaaaase" etc - especially given that I had half the kitchen on the floor at the time.

Turned out that he was quite happy with the water, brushes and some sheets of tissue paper that had also been in one of the cupboards - the concept of "water painting" was born. Maybe it's something he does at nursery.

Anyway, result! Obviously the cup of water was spilled all over the floor but in the scheme of things was basically mess free!

I don't even know where our poster paints are (and I had them before DD was born in 2007!)

I'm not a clean freak, it's actually because my house is such a mess that I don't want to get paint all over the mess IYSWIM!

never mind she'll be in nursery soon.

YANBU

It usually ends in me chucking a tantrum at the amount of paint that ends up everywhere but on the page.

Although DS aged 12 had to do some the other day for homework. Twas great. He packed it up and washed everything out himself.

Yep, save it til they're 12.

YANB at all U. My dd would paint all day and every day, luckily she does it occassionally at school. We don't ever paint at home though since the occasion where she did all the grout in the bathroom and some towels and herself while I was smoking busy doing something else.

YANBU. Ds would paint for 30 seconds then get down, using the wall to the side of him to get off the chair. Big painty handprints

Would also want to paint a 'Thomas' or a 'Eurostar' then get all arsey when it looked nothing like.

Dd did nothing but rainbows.

Funny - I never found it that much hassle. Cover kitchen table with newspaper. Squirt some paint onto some paper plates. Give them some paper and brushes and let tehm get on with it. When finished, chuck brushes in sink, roll up paper plates in newspaper and chuck in bin. "File" their masterpieces next day when they've forgotten about them.
OK - you do need to wash their hands but it's not THAT much mess. (maybe I was just lucky!)

Paint is not as bad as Play Doh which, in turn, is not as bad as Moon Sand. Why? Why do I do it to myself? I'm sort of determined that she should be able to do craft things, etc (she's 2.6) despite being adequately entertained at nursery. I've even been thinking of papier mache for tomorrow. Why??? It's bizarre. I blame my mother for doing these things with me. The cow!

DD only just overcame a fear of playdoh! Was so proud when she voluntarily squished it, I went and got her a big tub of tools, shape cutters etc

Problem is, I have to take my wedding ring off - it's a celtic design and the playdoh gets stuck in it!