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Behaviour/development

Talk to others about child development and behaviour stages here. You can find more information on our development calendar.

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Original poster

Did I go about this right? And how to avoid in future?

25 replies

Hulababy · 28/05/2004 09:41

DD is 25 months old and generally lovely and really good. However this morning we have had to have a falling out; the first time I have had to actually tell her off as such.

I went in to the bedroom to sort some washing out whilst she was playing int he living area and bedroom - she is in and out. Anyway I went back on after a few minutes and she was sat lookign sheepishly on her bed. She had found a black (of all colours!) wax crayon and she had drawn on her white bottom sheet, and also in the living area she had drawn all over the top of a small white plastic (but quite expensive!) table we have, and on the table in front of the TV. Well obviously I was not happy.

I removed her bed sheet in silence and put it in wash basket and I wiped crayon off TV table. I then knew the other table will be a nightmare to clean. I spoke to her about it - telling her it wasn't a good thing to do, we don't draw on anything but paper and colouring books. I also said that she has spoilt mummy's table and her sheet - and it would atake mummy a long time to clean it off. I then said she had to stay on her bed until she was sorry because she had upset mummy.

I then put her crayons box higher up so there is no way she can reach it. And I haveattempted to clean the table. It hasn't come off but DH thinks it will using somehthing harsher - will sort it this weekend.

After about 5 minutes I went back nto her room and straight away she hugged me and said sorry. I asked her why and she said that it wasn't good to draw on the table and sheet. So in her very young 25mo way I do think she is sorry, although I suspect she has already forgotten the incident.

So is this the right way to deal with a 25 month old? First incident we have had so never sure.

And how can I stop any more colouring incidents?

Oh, and while I'm at it - how do I get black wax crayon off of my table?

Thanks in advance!

OP posts:

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misdee · 28/05/2004 09:45

dont know about how u handled it, i tend not toworry about my kids artistic talents as long as its not on the walls. i have a birch veneered side table, and found that with a little bit of cream cleaner it comes off. if its a shiney plastic then avoid scrubbing it. if u dont mind a slight scratch or if it wont show then try a scouring pad.

Twinkie · 28/05/2004 09:47

I think white spirit removes crayon - not sure what it does to your table though!!

Sounds like you went about it the right way in temrs of relaying your sdispleasure to your daughter - and yes she probably has forgotten it in terms of that it happened today but she probably won't have forgotten that crayoning on things she isn't allowed to is not a good idea.

littlemissbossy · 28/05/2004 09:48

Yes hulababy, 10 out of 10 for handling this!! They all go through this, I have a delightful drawing of a "lion" (apparently) on my hall wall at the moment - that won't come off!!! I'm going to paint over it instead! BTW if you look on the crayola website www.crayola.com under helpful information, there's a stain removal section

Original poster

Hulababy · 28/05/2004 09:50

Cheers Not had to deal with anyhing like this at home before (and my pupils at school are much older at 11-18 so not the same) so I think I probably felt worse than she did, espoecially when she got upset at spoiling the table

Will look at that site now - thanks again.

OP posts:

charliecat · 28/05/2004 09:50

I think you handeled it wonderfully, something in your silence and body language made her realise she was wrong for doing it. Wouldnt have been so calm if it was me! To save future episodes keep the crayons/pens out of the way and just let her colour in at the kitchen table or somewhere you can keep an eye on her.
Your daughter sounds lovely and I doubt she'll do it again!
Ajax for the table and a nail brush maybe?

maisystar · 28/05/2004 09:53

i think you handled it well. its something all children do i think-part of experimenting! if ds does anything like that(rarely does now) i just ask him to help me clean whatever it was, tell him its not ok and to just get some paper to draw on then we can keep his picture instead of cleaning it away.

musica · 28/05/2004 09:58

Sounds like you handled it very calmly and well - not sure I would have been so calm. We've got some stuff for cleaning laminate floors with, and it works like magic on wax crayon. I'll see if I can find the name.

Northerner · 28/05/2004 10:01

Hi Hula. We've just had this also, and I've now got lovely scribbles on my bedroom wall that I can't get off. I think it's my fault really, I think my ds (also 25 mo) is too young to play with crayons unsupervised!

Original poster

Hulababy · 28/05/2004 10:03

She doesn't normally have them completely on her own at all. In fact they are on a shelf just out of reach - this black one was a stray one she found; must have been dropped last time. They are even higher up the shelf now!

OP posts:

charlieplus3 · 28/05/2004 10:07

Well done Hula for staying calm. Cant say i would have handled it as well but i will definatley try to when mine does anything similar.

Soulfly · 28/05/2004 16:45

I think you did really well i probably would have shouted the house down.
YOur dd did sound really sorry for what she'd done.
I think you did the right thing.
In my 'How clean is your house' book, it says to get crayon off radiators rub with a paper towel soaked in milk from the fridge. It might work for you table?

Beccarollover · 28/05/2004 16:50

My tip would be keep expensive tables out of creative 2 year old's reach! You will be able to get it out in again in about 6 years time or so I would think

xoz · 28/05/2004 16:57

I think you did well to stay calm... A suggestion might be to get her to help (as much as a 2 year old can!!) to clean up the mess. I have found that mine respond to that sort of thing quite well as it is a direct consequence of the action that they took.
As for how to get it off, the Crayola website is good for art related disasters. (I think someone mentioned that already) Good luck!

suedonim · 28/05/2004 18:41

I think you did pretty well, too. That sort of 'accident' is quite hard to deal with, I think, because the effect is much more important to you than to the child. They don't know that crayon is hard to remove from surfaces and a lovely big white bed sheet and table must have been very tempting! I remember well when dd1 carefully cut out a zigzag pattern along the bottom of a lovely white nightie I'd bought her -the very first time she wore it. It was a lesson to me that scissors had to be kept well-hidden. Anyway, I'm glad you've kissed and made up.

suzywong · 28/05/2004 18:50

That sounds a pretty text book how to handle that sort of problem, you did really well.
IME the things that wind me up the most are when the kids have got hold of and made mischief/a mess with things that I have left within their reach. I get cross with myself for not having thought ahead.
This kind of thing, is going to happen a lot. Perhaps it is time to put away the expensive, DINKY (no offence) things and accept that kids are going to dominate your living area more than before.

But the main point I want to put across is that you handled it really well, wish I could be so level-headed at times like that.

codswallop · 28/05/2004 18:51

hehe effin crayons eh?
you did fine but ds1 still colours on things inadvertently - he dsimply is not htinking what he is doing

codswallop · 28/05/2004 18:52

ps lol Br - i am afraid that crayons, until quite recently , were quarantined for only under my supervision too

roisin · 28/05/2004 19:08

I think it sounds like you handled it brilliantly. And she sounds like a little darling too - it's quite impressive for her to understand your distress and be remorseful at that age. Well done both of you ... and hope you get your table sorted.

I think children can learn quite quickly the 'rules' for colouring, in the same way they can learn how to handle a book appropriately. We had 'open access' crayons, pens and glue at this age, with no major incidents. (Though shockingly recently ds1 - aged 6 - did do a small scribble on the wall simply in order to provoke a reaction ... )

mummysurfer · 28/05/2004 19:29

this took me back 6 years hula to whem my 2 year old did similar. i reacted pretty much like you. she could see i was upset and disappointed that something had been spoilt rather than angry with her. she, like your dd, seemed genuinely sorry. i didn't hide the crayons cos hoped she'd learnt her lesson; she had, never done anything like that again. i also belonged to the school of thought that believed in not moving anything out of the way, but rather teaching her not to touch. this worked perfectly for us, no stair gate, no moving of precious ornaments.

then ds arrived and we had to join another school!!! move EVERYTHING out of his way and hide anything that can make a mark

HiddenSpirit · 28/05/2004 20:57

Hula, WD40 is supposed to be very good at removing wax crayon, but my darlings must know this and used felt tip pen on my hall wall instead!

codswallop · 28/05/2004 21:16

lol mummy sirfer! the same for me with ds1 - trasher and ds2 VERY orderly

kids are weird!

marthamoo · 28/05/2004 21:19

25 months and this is the fist time you've had to tell her off? Wow!

We have crayon on our walls and fireplace - I've just left it as an avant-garde design statement

Original poster

Hulababy · 29/05/2004 09:56

Thanks again everyone. Sheet is now is washer and we will see how well that comes out, and table will be tackled later today.

I think yesterday she was so over excited at the prospect of going to see Banrye that she really wasn't in her normal frame of mind. She normally gets quite cross if someone does something like that at nursery. Oh well, at least I now know that sitting her on her bed for a few minutes and showing disapproval does work!

OP posts:

Original poster

Hulababy · 29/05/2004 09:57

MM - not first time of telling her off really, but first time I have had to do it over 'proper' misbehaviour, as opposed to just saying no oto her over something and her having a little tantrum type of thing. So first time of properly having to deal with her as opposed to just leaving her to calm down IYSWIM

OP posts:

Bozza · 29/05/2004 10:13

I think it sounds like you reacted perfectly hulababy. Also sounds like it all came as a bit of a shock to you.

We've recently had a problem with DS getting felt tip (so much that it must be deliverate) all over his t-shirt at nursery. Find that hard to deal with because its after the event so can't punish - just say that I'm sad that I've got to throw his t-shirt away and make him watch it go in the bin.

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