In article . net, dkhedmo
says...

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?

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

Some of the furniture in question are things that might be handed down
to said maurauding toddler in time, or be put into other areas of the
home such as a guest room, etc when we are in place with more space and
start aquiring more furniture.

Opinions?

I always taught my son "we want to keep things nice". Tables get lined with
paper before a messy project, drawings go on paper.

Stickers are (mostly) temporary; I allowed him a few spots, like the sides of
the builg-in shelves in his room. It was a bear to remove when I refurbished it
eventually.

Now we're having some problems with how he goes about his historical miniatures
modelling - he's tried out colors on the side of an old hutch unthinkingly! But
the concepts are there that stuff isn't just to be trashed.

One thing to consider - one of the things that drives me crazy is when my son
was younger, or friends with *visiting* children would behave roughly toward my
son's stuff, and the parents have an 'oh well they're kids' attitude. I say "oh
well they're kids that's why they need to *learn*." What they learn at home
*will* be reflected in what they do elsewhere. And they don't unlearn it as
quickly as you think. Like, not even by time they're sharing dorm rooms!

Banty