Tuesday, December 13, 2011

This Is How Jackson Pollock’s Parents Must Have Felt

Today I gave my girls highlighters to color with.  The reason they were using highlighters instead of regular crayons or markers is that I banned markers from my household. I was tired of my girls walking away with marker tattoos on their arms and legs, and anyhow, they dried out due to the caps constantly being left off.

There were good reasons why I don’t give my kids markers.  I should’ve remembered this.

But it was cold and cloudy and nasty outdoors today, and my kids were whining about being bored.  And in my household, the easiest way to deal with nothing-to-do-itis is to set my kids up with arts and crafts projects.  Except instead of providing my kids with an elaborate craft involving paper bags, googly eyes, and felt, I gave them college-lined notebook paper and highlighters.  Same thing, really.

So while they busied themselves, I spent five glorious minutes cleaning my kitchen without any children attached to my leg, clamoring for snacks, or movies, or ponies.  But when I looked back at the kitchen table to check in on my kids, I saw two things. I saw a beautiful drawing of a flower in all its neon glory that would’ve made any 90’s era gal proud. And I saw Toddler entirely covered from chin downwards in pink highlighter.

So, after an impromptu mid-day bath, I brought the kids back downstairs.  The first thing Preschooler did was run to the kitchen to see if a picture she painted with poster paints earlier this morning was dry.

It wasn’t.

My freshly-bathed Preschooler now had hands covered in poster paint.

And what does she do before I have a chance to get her to the sink to wash her hands, or even just give her a wipe for immediate damage control?  

She rubs her hands on the upholstered living room chairs.

Now I get to clean the upholstery on my living room chairs.  So much for being bored.

10 comments:

Lizbeth said...

Oh Gawd...

This reminds me of why we don't have a single Sharpie in the house. The kids drew mustaches on each other. The looked like mini-Hitlers. I couldn't take them out in public for about a month...

Angela@BeggingTheAnswer said...

@Lizbeth - We do have Sharpies, but the kids haven't discovered them yet. But I'm probably due for some Sharpie trouble any day now.

Marianna Annadanna said...

No! This is upsetting!

Anonymous said...

Yeahhh, paint is an outdoor activity only. ;)

Angela@BeggingTheAnswer said...

@marianna - i'm sorry!

@mamamash - good idea! I wish I thought of it sooner.

Anonymous said...

Just be glad it's not carpet and shit. My nephew did this to my brother when he was grabbing a cup of coffee. The walls, the stereo speakers, and a spot in front of the TV that turned into a streak down the hallway to his room.

Angela@BeggingTheAnswer said...

@Joshua - I guess I lucked out!!

Janie Jones said...

Moms get bored?

Angela@BeggingTheAnswer said...

@Janie - sometimes!!

Anonymous said...

It was doubtlessly hard on you, but it turned into a great blog post!