Wife Asked Her Husband To Paint Over Their Kid’s Drawing — What He Did Instead Wins Him 'Father Of The Year'
If the kid is anything like their father, they might have Pablo Picasso on their hands.
KayaMe / Shutterstock Kids love to draw! It may not always make sense, but they draw whatever comes to their cute little heads, allowing them to bring their thoughts to life. This, however, becomes a massive pain for their parents because they will often use walls and furniture as canvases for their magnum opus.
One mother, fed up with her child drawing on their walls, asked her husband to paint over their kid’s drawing, but what he did instead is being praised online, winning him a “Father of the Year” award.
Instead of painting over their kid’s drawing, he painted next to it and showcased it.
A toddler with a crayon is a dangerous opponent, but this father was able to come out on top. He had a special way of handling their kid who was entering their exploration stage, and that was by providing them with support.
On the wall, the woman's child had drawn what looked like a person with red shoes and maybe some clouds overhead — a masterpiece if you ask me — but the painting that was painted around it was all the more impressive.
The father had drawn Mickey Mouse, but not just any ordinary rendition of Mickey Mouse. This Disney character came complete with an outfit change, a French painter’s cap, a palette with several paints on it, and an easel.
The mouse had a paintbrush in hand and was drawing on a canvas that rested on the easel, but lo and behold, the painting depicted before Mickey was none other than the toddler’s drawing.
Posted on TikTok under an account that regularly reposts content, the mother in the video walks into the hallway and discovers what her husband had done. “Okay, alright,” she says. “Guys, the walls are not for drawing and painting on.”
Photo: @frankog19 / TikTok
But what this father did is actually very important for their child’s development.
In many ways, he tackled multiple problems at once. According to the Child Development Institute, there are multiple developmental stages in a child’s life that deal with exploration. From ages 3-6, children are “improving their gross motor and fine motor skills, which gets them interested in art, crafts, and ride-on toys.”
“The most important mode of learning for children during this period is playing,” they claim. “Make-believe play of all kinds is attractive and fosters the development of language, socialization, and creativity.”
Letting kids express themselves and express their emotions is a key part of their development. Without this kind of exploration, kids won’t know how to let their creative juices flow, and a manifestation of this key part of their development comes in the form of art and drawing.
Of course, the problem of teaching children that they shouldn’t draw on the walls or furniture arises, but he tackled this as well. Kids might find the seemingly endless canvas of the walls appealing to paint on, but by creating a fake easel and canvas, the father teaches their kids that there are places dedicated to this kind of activity.
Nido Early School in Australia claims that this kind of support is important for fostering creativity in children. They say, “Children need encouragement and support to develop their creativity (and by extension, to develop important life skills like self-confidence and relationship building) and the process of creative expression is beneficial to both the child and the educator.”
Sure, there’s now more than double the paint on the wall, but their child will appreciate the fact that their father supported them instead of punishing them for painting where they shouldn’t.
Isaac Serna-Diez is an Assistant Editor for YourTango who focuses on entertainment and news, social justice, and politics.