Parenting Tips Keep Walls Clean and Artwork-Free
Parenting Advice to Keep Kids’ Drawings on the Paper
Jun 4, 2009
When kids live in a home, the walls are bound to get a few marks and scuffs. Accidents and experiments happen. A little planning though, can save parents a lot of scrubbing. Here are five parenting tips to keep walls art-free.
Parenting Help #1: Keep Crayons, Pens, and Markers in Their Place
Organization is key when it comes to pens, pencils, and art supplies. With toddlers in the house, it’s a good idea to keep these out of reach except during supervised coloring sessions. Parents who try to save five minutes by leaving a ball-point pen on the kitchen counter rather than putting it away may cost themselves an hour of scrubbing in the long run.
Parenting Help #2: Opt for Crayons or Water-Based Markers
If walls, table tops, and clothing are a concern, crayons are the way to go with toddlers and preschoolers. Markers are fun, but their messes are bigger and more difficult to clean. If parents and kids enjoy coloring with markers, they should definitely check labels to make sure they have purchased the water-based variety.
Parenting Help #3: Save Left-Over Paint, Wallpaper, and Carpeting
Some graffiti just refuses to come down. Other marks come clean but take the paint or wall paper pattern right with them. In cases like these, parents will bless the day they saved those cans of left-over paint or extra rolls of wallpaper. One important tip parents will want to remember when painting over a stain is to first use a primer. This will prevent the mark from bleeding through the new coat.
Parenting Help #4: When Repainting, Go With Glossy
If parents don’t have left-over paint and the store can’t match a paint chip closely enough to do a touch up, they’ll need to either overlook the art, find a creative way to hide it, or think about repainting the room. One silver lining to this dark cloud might be in nipping future marks in the bud. Instead of redecorating with more wallpaper or repainting with matte or satin, parents can try painting with a high-gloss finish. They’ll love the way marks, food, and whatever else their kids dish out next time wipes away with cleaner and a wet cloth.
Parenting Help #6: Enlist Kids’ Help With the Scrubbing
If a child made the mess, he needs to be involved in the cleaning. Obviously, toddlers aren’t going to have the strength or attention span to tackle a permanent marker stain, but taking time to show them age-appropriate consequences for drawing on the wall may prevent future murals.
Kids are experts at bringing the lived-in look to a home. Though moms and dads can’t hope to keep walls absolutely spotless, related articles reveal parenting advice for cleaning marker and ink stains from walls, and parenting help for removing crayon or pencil marks from wall paper or paint. And with some preventative measures as well as clearly defined rules and expectations, moms and dads will cut down on those masterpieces.
