Thank You For Washable Markers!!

When you spend all day with your kids, or even part of the day, you can't be attached to them at all times! Thank goodness.  We have to keep the house fairly clean and stay sane.  But then when we do leave them alone for a few minutes, it turns you into a very paranoid person. Listening closely for either screaming and fighting, or even worse...silence! Silence means they've found something to hold their attention and it's a 50/50 chance whether it's going to involve a big clean up for us parents!

Today my tired and cranky 3 year old asked for the markers to color. We've had plenty of talks, and by that I mean a lot of yelling by me, about not coloring on anything other than his coloring books. So I decided it was time to trust him and to be honest, I didn't want to hear his whining for the ninety-seventh time today. I admit it, we all of our weak moments where we just hope for the best.  I've had issues once or twice with him mistaking his skin for his coloring book. I think it's a right of passage for little kiddos to use markers all over themselves, pets or walls.

I finished the dishes, took a deep breath and headed out to the living room to check on him. But as I walked past the kids' room and heard evil giggles, my stomach clinched. And there stood my sweet, precious kiddos standing in front of the mirror. As I looked closer, I saw my son with a black marker, coloring all over his face. And right beside him was my daughter encouraging him and telling him where he should be coloring himself. What?!?!?!

I grabbed the marker and asked my daughter what was going on.  She said that it was his idea, like that made it ok. I asked why she didn't come and tell me or at least encourage him not to do it. Her response was, because it was funny. Ok, I had to give her that one. Honestly the more I looked at him, the harder it was not to laugh. I realized this wasn't the end of the world and it could've been the walls or the TV or the cat. And I remembered something else...they were washable markers! These days, most markers or paint say washable-but it's not always true.

I ran bath water, got him out of his clothes and tried not to "cry over spilled milk". My kids weren't hurt and didn't damage anything-so was it really that big of deal? When I asked him what he did, he looked so happy. And when he smiled, I realized he'd even colored his teeth, and I couldn't hold in my laughter any longer. After 20 minutes of playing in the bath and washing his face a few times-he was back to normal! Thank you Crayola for the washable coloring book markers and I praised myself for buying them, knowing that he would probably end up coloring himself at some point.

So I guess my point is that we have to pick and choose our battles. I told him not to do it again or he wouldn't get the markers anymore. As a mom who overreacts sometimes, it's easy to fall into that pattern. No, I don't want him to do it again-but I also had to remind myself that he's 3 and I'm the one who decided it was a good idea to do dishes while he had markers in another room. So no harm was done, everyone was safe and sound. Try to consider if it's really worth yelling or punishing the kids sometimes and just be thankful for washable markers!

Thanks for reading and I'd love it if you would follow my blog or follow me on social media. I hope you all have a great day and be kind to each other and yourself!!