This post isn’t really about “the wall” because it’s about our home. There are lots of walls in our home. And when I saw that there are lots of walls I say it somewhat happily. Divisions bring interest. Walls are the sort of things that keep our son’s toys mostly within the confines of what we call his room. There’s lots of room in his room, incidentally, and having a dedicated play place for the balls and blocks and puzzles and other objects he’s acquired from family members goes a long way towards keeping the rest of our home in order. There is, however, a downside to having so many walls. It was something I never would have thought of myself (at least not as an adult), because I view the world in a different way than our son. Whether it is simply height or age (or something else) this difference in view has caused the prevalence of walls to be something somewhat negative.
Drawing surfaces. (Did you see this coming fellow parents?) Walls are convenient drawing surfaces for our little boy. He loves finding whatever he can: pencil, crayon, pen, permanent marker (oh yeah), and drawing like a maniac on any surface he can. Some say that coloring books teach kids to draw inside the lines. Our son draws on blank pieces of paper, but he can’t even keep it on the page! (Future artist, perhaps?) All of this is taking its toll on Mom and Dad. We’re running around erasing, cleaning, washing, etc. all of the walls in our home to prevent permanent damage to the surfaces our son chooses (seemingly at random) to treat as a canvas for his masterpieces. We’ll have to get him an easel I think. Perhaps then he’ll at least be less messy with a dedicated art space. Time, as always, will tell.