lisa942
March 20th, 2009, 10:17 am
Several years ago when our kids were small, we had some friends who also had small children. We were usually at their house or they were at ours every weekend. That’s what you do when you have small children and not a lot of money. It was a great time.
One particular night the kids who ranged in age from about 8 down to 2 were all playing nicely in my boys’ bedroom. There was no fussing, screaming, hitting, crying going on and with 4 boys and 1 girl in the mix, that was a miracle. We finished dinner and visiting with our friends and headed back to the room to start picking up toys before they left. As we entered the hallway, there was the precious little 2 year old boy with a black Crayola marker in his chubby little hand. He had drawn the prettiest black line all the way down the hallway until he got to the door opening where he just scribbled all over the wall. Thankfully, even though I’m not sure washable markers were on the market yet, the walls had been painted with a washable paint. The marker came right off. No permanent damage done! It was a good lesson to us though, if everything is going well with 4 boys and a girl…someone’s probably doing something they’re not supposed to be doing!! Ha
Now this brings me to my point. Today Crayola has come out with a no mess “wonder” marker. It only writes on special paper so mishaps like the one that happened in our home cannot happen. Hurray! Right? Well, if you look at in the light of a mom who has to worry about cleaning up a marker mess, or from the perspective of those few times when even the “washable” markers aren’t totally washable, then yes, “Wonder Markers” are a great invention. But my concern in light of all of the bailouts, leaders who cheat on their taxes, spouses, etc with little if any repercussions, corporations who take what is not theirs and spend on things that even in a good economy would be considered pretty outlandish, what are we teaching our children by not letting their mistakes show up?
If a child makes a mistake with a marker there are several things he/she can learn from this.
1. Being careful is important
2. Taking care of objects and personal items is important
3. Some things cannot be replaced if they are damaged
4. Mistakes make a mess and someone has to clean it up
5. Mistakes make other people have to do work that they did not plan to do
It also gives parents an opportunity to teach these concepts. By not letting our children even make a mistake as simple as accidentally writing on the table or a t-shirt with a marker, could we be setting them up for wondering why they should get in trouble at school for punching their classmate since no one saw and they didn’t leave a mark. Or why should they get a ticket for speeding if no one was hurt? Why any rules at all as long as no one knows or no one’s hurt or at least the hurt doesn’t show up?
I’m sure I’m making a bigger deal out of this than is necessary, but I think that kids need to see their mistakes. They need to be taught that we don’t write on the carpet or the walls or our brother. It’s about taking responsibility, something I’m afraid too many of us are lacking these days.
One particular night the kids who ranged in age from about 8 down to 2 were all playing nicely in my boys’ bedroom. There was no fussing, screaming, hitting, crying going on and with 4 boys and 1 girl in the mix, that was a miracle. We finished dinner and visiting with our friends and headed back to the room to start picking up toys before they left. As we entered the hallway, there was the precious little 2 year old boy with a black Crayola marker in his chubby little hand. He had drawn the prettiest black line all the way down the hallway until he got to the door opening where he just scribbled all over the wall. Thankfully, even though I’m not sure washable markers were on the market yet, the walls had been painted with a washable paint. The marker came right off. No permanent damage done! It was a good lesson to us though, if everything is going well with 4 boys and a girl…someone’s probably doing something they’re not supposed to be doing!! Ha
Now this brings me to my point. Today Crayola has come out with a no mess “wonder” marker. It only writes on special paper so mishaps like the one that happened in our home cannot happen. Hurray! Right? Well, if you look at in the light of a mom who has to worry about cleaning up a marker mess, or from the perspective of those few times when even the “washable” markers aren’t totally washable, then yes, “Wonder Markers” are a great invention. But my concern in light of all of the bailouts, leaders who cheat on their taxes, spouses, etc with little if any repercussions, corporations who take what is not theirs and spend on things that even in a good economy would be considered pretty outlandish, what are we teaching our children by not letting their mistakes show up?
If a child makes a mistake with a marker there are several things he/she can learn from this.
1. Being careful is important
2. Taking care of objects and personal items is important
3. Some things cannot be replaced if they are damaged
4. Mistakes make a mess and someone has to clean it up
5. Mistakes make other people have to do work that they did not plan to do
It also gives parents an opportunity to teach these concepts. By not letting our children even make a mistake as simple as accidentally writing on the table or a t-shirt with a marker, could we be setting them up for wondering why they should get in trouble at school for punching their classmate since no one saw and they didn’t leave a mark. Or why should they get a ticket for speeding if no one was hurt? Why any rules at all as long as no one knows or no one’s hurt or at least the hurt doesn’t show up?
I’m sure I’m making a bigger deal out of this than is necessary, but I think that kids need to see their mistakes. They need to be taught that we don’t write on the carpet or the walls or our brother. It’s about taking responsibility, something I’m afraid too many of us are lacking these days.