Color on Paper

We're not really a house with a ton of rules.  "Never wake a sleeping baby" is really the only one I can think of, honestly.  But we do say other phrases frequently like, "Use your fork", "Don't scream, say 'Please stop'", and "Don't slam doors".  One that I don't say often (because I usually hide the crayons and markers) is "Color on paper."  This seemed like the easiest way to explain it.  Instead of telling them where they can't color (walls, books, tables, etc..) I just tell them where they can color - PAPER.

Well, my almost 3 year old likes to color.  She even asked me if she could.  But I got distracted and later I found what she had been coloring. 

I said, "Where do we color?" 

She said, "Color on paper." 

I said, "What's this?" 

She said, "Sa* stool." 

I said, "Okay, now you have to clean it up." 

*[translation: It's a]

(photo by Cynthia Maloney)

So I gave her a green scrubby pad with some baking soda and dish soap and she started scrubbing.  I kid you not, she scrubbed that sa stool for an hour!  It's clean.  I might have to spend 30 seconds on a couple places she missed, but you've never seen anything like it.  She scrubbed and scrubbed and scrubbed.  She didn't play outside with her siblings.  She scrubbed and scrubbed and scrubbed. 

You'd think I'm telling this story because I'm proud of her.  I'm not.  She was supposed to hate every minute of it.  She was supposed to think of the consequences of scrubbing before she dared take a crayon to anything other than paper. 

Parenting fail. 

I think she likes cleaning up messes.  Let's just hope she doesn't make a mess just for the sake of cleaning it up. 

PS... I'm hiding the Sharpies.