A Very Pinteresting Wall

By Carissa Douglas

(Author of The Little Douglings Series)

I'm not a Pinterest person per se. Not really. But this is pretty pinteresting!

Having a few littles who aren't so little anymore, means I've been encountering frustrated tweens and hormonal happenings more than I care to admit. This is my wall of happiness. It started with me using it as an outlet. I was trying to hide from the small people in my house and thought I'd be clever and hide in one of their bunk beds (being that they always find me in my own room). While laying in the lower bunk I was twirling a Sharpie permanent marker that I found in my pocket and had an epiphany. I've always wanted funky wallpaper, but my husband wouldn't go for it. In all fairness, he's right. Kids and wallpaper are a very bad combo.

Riiiiiiiiiiiiiipppppp!

So I suddenly found myself doing the very thing for which I frequently chastised my kids. I started drawing on the wall. I'm not gonna lie, it was pretty awesome. Soon my kids found me and started screaming, "MOM'S WRITING ON THE WALL!!!" I found a few more Sharpies and we all went to town (well, at first I was a bit of a control freak and directed them to only draw patterns I deemed acceptable).

It's taken a long time to complete, but it's been a great tool to help reward and even calm some of our children. The older ones, who are fairly competent with a Sharpie will sometimes be sent to spend some drawing time at the wall when they've been stressed, upset, angry or just in need of a "reset" period. It's very effective in drawing them (pun so intended) out of their sour moods. I see it as well-directed alone time. I make sure I get a piece of that goodness myself from time to time. It's also been a really fun thing to do with visiting friends and cousins. Plus, in the future, we'll probably start to break out the colored Sharpies and use the space as a coloring wall. I'm hoping this will be a therapeutic wall during the teenaged years... and the seasoned years (pour moi!).

There have been a few mishaps. Two year olds thinking they can add to the masterpiece (eep!), but we've been strategically working the furniture and accessories to hide any major eyesores and if it's really bad, it's nothing a little paint can't alter (although some of their work is pretty sweet). A mirror is hiding an area where they had peeled off the paint (apparently kids don't even need wallpaper to engage in a rip fest)! And there is a flower nightlight hiding the spot where a very angry foot tatrumed its way through the drywall. Somehow the wall of happiness can hide these abuses better than a bare wall and that makes for a happier mamma!

So there you have it. My most pinteresting post to date.