In article . net,
dkhedmo wrote:

Just wondering about how others feel about how your kids treat the
furniture you provide for them in their bedrooms and playrooms? Do you
feel the stuff is theirs to do with as they please, or do you feel it
belongs to the family as a whole and expect things to be treated with a
certain amount of care?

The latter

Do you feel differently about items that are specifically kid
sized/designed for kids than you do about regular furniture pieces that
are in the kid areas? For example, a kid sized table and chairs set: how
would you feel about the child purposefully drawing a picture on the
table in marker that could not be removed easily? How would you feel
about marker markings on a mattress or dresser? Stickers on a lamp? Glue
on the bedding?

I would be pretty darn cranky about any of those things.

I'm sure you can all see where this is going!

Yes, but how on earth did you get there?!

We are in a very small
place and the only area we can guarantee ds1 5.5yo freedom from the
maurauding toddler little brother is his room, which we keep gated off
so he can have all his "big boy" stuff, which includes various craft
supplies, as ds1 loves to make pictures etc and it keeps him quite
happily busy often. Unfortunately, he also tends to space out and do
goofy little things without thinking. I don't think he's being
purposefully destructive, but it's really annoying to see scribbling on
the new boombox, marker on the mattress or sheets, inky fingers smeared
on the lamp.

He's not old enough to use these things unsupervised if he forgets himself
like that. Put them away, and only allow him to use them when he's
supervised. Your Ds might not be sitting there going, "Hee hee, I'll graffiti
on this sheet so it's ruined," but at 5.5 he *is* aware that sheets are not
art materials. It isn't purposeful, but it's destruction nonetheless.

The only item that has been disfigured by DS1 around here was an easel. DS
was 2, and I didn't notice the "artwork" until later -- simply never thought
that he'd use texta on the easel rather than the paper!.

The other 'artistic' additions to the house were all perpetrated by Other
People's Children. I now know that the art items need to be out of reach of
not only DS1, but also the tallest kid at the party...

--
Chookie -- Sydney, Australia
(Replace "foulspambegone" with "optushome" to reply)

"In Melbourne there is plenty of vigour and eagerness, but there is
nothing worth being eager or vigorous about."
Francis Adams, The Australians, 1893.