Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh! once again DD (nearly 6 FGS) has drawn on the sofa and on my bed headboard. What shall I do?

[LittleBella]

I really, really want this to stop. She is nearly bloody six. When she was 3, it was my fault because I shouldn't have left pens around. Now she is almost 6 and knows it is a rule that she doesn't draw on the furniture, I don't think it is my fault any more. Well maybe it is, but other people's kids of this age don't, so how can I stop her doing it? Don't tell me to keep pens out of her way, I can't have that level of organisation and control freakery. What shall I say to her? Should I have a sanction? And how do I get biro out of leather and suede?!

oh mrsruffallo, i love you.
Bet you're nurturing a future banksy!
I let dcs chalk the outside of the house last summer and it hasn't washed off yet, but that just laziness on my part rather than a conscious decision to cultivate creativity.

But mrsR WHY can't you have them on paper? That way you can keep what you want to forever, I already have a portfolio with loads of my lo's art work I want to be able to look back on.

Or what about an etch a sketch ?

Because paper is usually small, don't you ever look at a huge blank space and want to do stuff on it?
(my dc's don't draw on our walls, btw...this is all theory!)

I think you need to be stricter. Losing TV for an hour (? neither of mine have watched anything since Monday) is not enough. At that age she really should know that it is not on. My 3yo would have severe withdrawal of priveleges for that.

Roll of wallpaper sellotaped to kitchen floor cadelaide.

Mrs R I hope I am not one who has insulted you. I certainly didn't meant ot if I have. Just can't grasp the concept of allowing my children to grafitti my house/furniture. But as I have said that is my anal/precious habits.

BTW as a big disclaimer, my children are allowed ample opportunity to be creative in artistic/cooking/role play fields etc and both have fantastic imaginations, (but I clear up after evertything (a lot)

oh, chalks are brilliant. We have a big paved area in the courtyard of our communal garden for pavement artists.

OK but those of you who think wall is ok do you think sofa is to?

Chalk is fine. We live in a private, dead end road and in the summer the children are out in the front with paddling pools, chalk etc having a fantastic time. (actually we all have the cleanest cars around because all of them love to help out with car washing)

no, I dont like grafitti on furniture, ink/paint and soft furnishings are not a happy mixture.

But then I dont tend to go for the Tracey Emin unmade bed sort of art. Or I would be nurturing 4 Tracies, their bedrooms are all works of art.

I have never had a problem with ds 3.7 drawing on anything other than where i direct it Maybe because i have from the time he could crawl provided a number or creative outlets like whole floor paper covering and paints,easel,sticking, and cutting or maybe im just lucky
But in reply to op ds would have severe consequences if he was to draw anywhere other than paper etc. Loss of power rangers(tv,dvd and figures) would hit hard with him

ComeOnVeneer, you have not insulted me at all , it has been fun debating with you
Nightynight, cadelaide, I love the way your minds work
I have to go and give DP some attention but please remember a blank wall is a masterpiece waiting to happen
Night all

Just to join in the hijack (sorry OP) we were allowed to draw on the walls of our own bedrooms as kids. Whatever we liked. None of us ever did crappy, thoughtless scribblings. We put a lot of effort and time into murals and paintings and our bedrooms looked fab.

Give her a cloth to clean it off with?

My one's got a thing about putting stickers everywhere at the moment............

Swedes I have found it very interesting to read Mrsr's comments and find out how other people manage problems like this in their own house. I always find it refreshing to hear that something that i find a problem, is not in fact a problem in other people's houses. It can sometimes help me get a different perspective on things, and help me relax about whatever the issue is. Sometimes I just shrug and think "well that doesn't work for me". But this time it seems to have made a lot of people cross and upset, and I think there have been some rude posts made to MrsR.

I don't let children jump on my sofas (they would break) but it doesn't outrage me that some people do. Why would it? It isn't morally wrong to jump on a sofa nor to draw on a wall. It's just inappropriate in some situations - MrsR is teaching her children which situations these are.

We let DD draw on the wall when she was about 3, it was one we had things pinned on near the kitchen anyway. I thought it was a lovely idea for her to be able to stretch out and be creative with such a large space.

Unfortunately, the wall filled up fairly quickly and it became much more satisfying for her to fill up the 'canvas' of the adjacent walls and doors. This did not fit in with my liberal plan (control freak) and the whole, you can make art on this wall but not that wall thing wasn't going to work so it was painted (one colour) and she was bought an easel.

I do find annoying things around still, she's 6 now, but usually they are stickers/piles of glitter, plasticine lumps. I would be furious at actual drawing on furniture though and would ban pens I expect.

ds once drew a tiny little face right around the back of a large wooden toy (I mean about 4 foot long, more a piece of furniture really) which is actually his toy, so he argued he had the right to do it

I just loved this tiny tiny little rebellious breakout (we don't allow drawing on walls and furniture, either)

I have this argument with dd about her books, she thinks something looks much prettier coloured in and it is her book after all

but, but, I splutter, its a book

Thanks again,F&Z! I also find the debates where people have a different view to mine interesting, as long as you can converse in an interesting and respectful manner.

I found it funny how being called a liberal parent supposed to be an insult!!!!

i went in to ds1's bedroom one night put him to bed to discover he drawn LARGE, almost lifesize, daleks on his wall in crayon. i made him clean it off himself and recorded him doing it so we often play it back and have a laugh. it wasnt fun!ny at the time though

I think with books you are only the temporary custodian. You don't throw a book away once you outgrow it or have read it, do you? It annoys me immensely when people deface books (it's worse than walls). Notes written lightly, in pencil, in the margins of books used for academic purposes are acceptable. I believe that if you teach your children to respect books at a very young age - babies really, respect for other "things" flows naturally.

I think people are more important than things and would hope to pass that on to ds

however I do personally like to take care of books, but it is a personal choice, not a moral code

Yes F&Z people are much more important than things and in these extremely materialist times it is an important message to give your dc. I think when poss it is important to give them attention rather than worry too much about your house for example
. What other ways do you think we can re
inforce this?
We love books in this house and the dc never deface them- it's not something we have discussed but a natural choice on their part