My daughter has a memory like an Elephant. The upside: she has such good memory recall she hardly forgets a thing. The downside: she has such good memory recall she hardly forgets a thing. Her memory kicks in at opportune times. I was stunned as our family watched an episode of Star Trek when there was a pan shot of outer space my two year old identifies and yells out “Look, the Milky Way Galaxy!”

I was equally stunned to walk into her room a few days later to see her spin, look surprised and run to grab my leg. She gave her best batted eyes and said “Look what I drew for you Mama!” You guessed it. There has been an incident in the Logan household. A crayon incident. As I walked over to her beautiful princess chair I was able to size up the room in seemingly slow motion. I saw the bucket on top of her dress over turned and items strewn about. And then I saw the chair.

In her words “it’s much better now”. She added a touch of blue and yellow crayon to her Disney Princess Rocking Chair. I was the one that then had a surprised look on my face. I recalled how I had placed a small box of crayons in a decorative bucket on her dresser which I didn’t know that she could reach as I cleaned her room the day before. I also recalled how she was such a good helper that day and keenly watched everything I did.

That good memory recall kicked in when in her words she “had an idea”. Her idea was get the crayons to color and make her chair even nicer so that her Mom could see. Yeah, how do you parent that one? Batted eyelashes and that “aawww” answer to “Why did you do that?” But let’s not forget the surprised look and mad dash to my leg. This child is 2 going on 20. She had reasoned in her head that this may be wrong.

So the parenting “T’s” had to come out: the “time-out” and “the talk”.  And this was not limited to my cutie pie. I had to sit myself down as well. Children are inquisitive, adventurous and want to push the limits. Understanding this as a parent means being proactive to protect them and… your furniture.

So I’ve learned a few tips to keep the writing off the wall and other things.

• Store crayons, chalk, markers, paint and arts/crafts materials out of reach of children.
• Identify a place such as an easel, coloring book, drawing book or chalkboard where kids can draw or make arts and crafts. Stress that all artwork should be done there and only there.
• Buy washable crayons!