How I Turned a Potential Toddler Art Disaster Into a Beautiful Memory

This is a sponsored story about a time I turned a stressful parenting moment into a happy one. 

My kids like to draw. On everything. No surface in my house is safe from crayons, markers or colored pencils. We’ve tried to limit where they can use art supplies, what they can access, and when.

We’ve redirected them to more appropriate things to draw on. Generally they are very good, but always slip their redecorating attempts past me. They’ll be coloring nicely, sprawled out on the kitchen floor. Suddenly I’ll notice they’ve moved from scribbling on the paper to on the floor. I’ve caught them marking walls, doors, and mirrors. Though I often am torn between praising their improved skills (nice heart!) and scolding them. Often I deliver a mix while encouraging them to practice their shapes, lines, or letters on a piece of paper next time.

Dolls, books, random toys… many bear the mark of my children’s artistic freedom.

Working from home means I try lots of different ways to occupy them so I can get my work done. This often leads to my daughter requesting art projects, but I must weigh how hands-off I am able to be without it spelling disaster. Some days they quietly (well, as quiet as a preschooler and a toddler can be) color. Other days they play nicely in another room.

One day I had a lot on my work plate so the kids eventually grew bored of hovering around me. I love it when they go off to play nicely together or they’re flipping through books, but it grew unusually quiet. The kind of quiet a mother dreads. The kind where you need to brace yourself because you have NO IDEA what is waiting for you.

I peeked into my daughter’s room, but only she was in there.

Uh, oh. Where’s Xander? What is he getting into?

I found him in our bedroom, sitting on the bed. I smiled, thinking how nice it would be if he drifted off to sleep all on his own for naptime. The edges of my mouth twitched as I noticed he had a pen clutched in his hand. He was drawing circles on my white pillowcase!

I stress out enough as it is while working from home. Unless it’s REALLY bad, I’m trying to let go of the initial feelings of “WHAT DID YOU DO!” when I discover every storage container has been pulled out of the cabinets. When the cereal is dumped on the kitchen floor.

When I found my son drawing on my pillowcase.

I scooped him up and took him into the living room (after getting a picture to share on Instagram, of course). I didn’t get mad and had to laugh at the whole situation. We ran it through the wash once to see if the pen marks would come out. They didn’t so I got out some markers and asked the kids to decorate it for me. It’s now a colorful reminder of my children as I lay my head to rest on my very own custom design.

Sometimes I need a little more help to turn stressful moments around, because we know that life can be crazy with two little kids running around! It could be a few deep breaths or locking myself in the bathroom with a cookie (true story – I even have the selfie to prove it).

Click to get a BOGO coupon for RESCUE and entered for a chance to win great prizes from Bose and GoPro in the RESCUE #StressLess2BMyBest sweepstakes! 

Do you have a story that you remember fondly now, but it was stressful at the time?

This blog post is part of a paid SocialMoms and RESCUE blogging program. The opinions and ideas expressed here are my own.