My Little Artist

My kids are usually pretty good at going to bed and staying there even if they aren't sleeping. Zoey has been increasingly being more difficult to put to bed at night. I usually tell her that she doesn't have to sleep but she needs to stay in her room and play with the few toys (stuffed animals, ponies) that she has with her. One night I was pretty busy with work and after I helped Brandon put the kids to bed I went back to work. I heard Zoey get up several times and Brandon put her back. Finally I hear "Mel....You need to come up here" I figured he was finally calling in reinforcements to lay down the law and get her to stay in bed. He's the good cop, I'm definitely the bad cop.

I walk into her room and find:

 

Yes, that would be crayon drawings on all four of her walls. I put her to bed and told her she would be punished the next day. In reality I was more upset at Brandon than her. I knew at some point the kids would mess up the walls and they would have to be repainted. I asked Brandon how she got the crayons and why her lights were one and he said, "I didn't know she wasn't supposed to have them. I thought she just had to stay in her room." ...

So the next day her punishment was to help me clean the crayon off the wall, which is virtually impossible because of our builder grade matte paint. I mixed some vinegar and water and made her scrub at the crayon until she was really whiny and bored and obviously making no progress while I cleaned most of the rest of it with magic eraser. That was about an hour. She thought it was fun for the first half hour.

She hasn't added any new artwork to her walls since. Hope it stays that way!