Mess of the Week: The Dreaded Permanent Marker Edition

At our house, permanent markers are practically under lock and key.  They have been for years.  Unfortunately, the big kids occasionally need to have access to permanent markers for various purposes that are completely justifiable.  Monday is one of my biggest and longest teaching days.  Dr. Peds was out of town.  A Big Kidlet needed to use a permanent marker and didn’t want to interrupt the lesson I was teaching.  I even looked up from the piano and saw this individual with a permanent marker in hand.  I quelled the panic and thought to myself, this will be OK.  The kids are getting bigger.  They know how to use permanent markers responsibly.  

Except that this Big Kidlet forgot the cardinal rule of using permanent markers:  PUT THEM BACK WHERE NO SMALL PEOPLE WILL EVER FIND THEM.  The permanent marker was left lying unguarded on the table.  Sure enough, a curious preschooler honed in on it, and when I went to tuck him in at the end of a long day of teaching, helping people with homework and keeping control over the after supper crazy around here, I found a lovely artistic rendition on Mr. Trouble on Feet’s dresser.

This sadly made me loose my temper.  Big time.  Because I just didn’t need ONE MORE THING to deal with on that particular day.  I sent that child to bed and I may have wailed on and on loudly.  I may have stomped my feet and yelled so much that the resident teenager in the house called down the stairs, “Ranting much, Mother?”  My other kids, with a strong and healthy sense of self preservation may have squirreled away and hid the rest of the night.

I did later apologize. And I re-tucked that little boy in bed with a hug.

The next day I picked up Mr. Trouble on Feet from preschool.  At his preschool, the preschool I love, they work hard on making good choices.  They talk about how bad choices lead to “Trouble Cake” and good choices are slices of yummy “Peace Pie.”  It might sound a little weird, but it is a concept that both The Banana and Mr. TOF really related to in their preschool years.  (For the record, Mr. SP declared that Trouble Cake tasted better and that was that.)

In the car on the drive home from school:

Mr. TOF:  Last night was trouble cake.  But today is peace pie.

Me:  I’m glad today is peace pie.  What should you do if you see a special marker like that again?

Mr. TOF:  I should leave it alone.

Me:  Only use a marker with a grown up, and in the office while you are writing on paper.

Mr. TOF:  I know.  But it’s only a little mark on my dresser.

Me:  But it was a big problem.  It ruined the dresser.

Mr. TOF:  Why is it a problem?  I like the mark.  It’s not that big. And it’s my dresser.

Me:  But, what happens when you are big and you are a dad and I want to give that dresser to someone who needs it?  They won’t want marker on their dresser.

Mr. TOF:  Well . . . . maybe they won’t mind so much.

Me:  Why did you take the marker and draw on your dresser?

Mr. TOF:  I just really wanted to.  And my mind said it would be Trouble Cake, but I just couldn’t stop.

Me:  I think next time we should have a slice of peace pie and leave the marker on the table.

Mr. TOF:  Yeah.  (sigh).   Let’s just not even talk about that marker anymore.