Now's the Time to Let Your Kids Draw on the Walls
For those seeking a useful way to spend their time during social distancing—or anyone simply interested in forging a deeper connection with their homes—HB has launched Home Love, a series of daily tips and ideas to make every minute indoors more productive (and gratifying!).
If you were anything of a creative child, you may well have heard, at some point in your younger years, that dreaded phrase: "No drawing on the walls!" But as designer and author India Hicks sees it, sometimes letting your children have creative freedom over the walls isn't such a bad idea. Hicks took to Instagram last week to share a photo of her 12-year-old daughter, Domino, painstakingly painting a cow print on her bedroom door at the family's home on Harbour Island, in the Bahamas.
Actively encouraging her to paint all over the doors and walls. #lockdown
A post shared by India Hicks (@indiahicksstyle) on Apr 16, 2020 at 3:26pm PDT
"It was totally her idea," Hicks says of her daughter. "She said, 'I want to paint cow print all over my room." And clearly, her mother obliged. But, for any parents out there wondering if they should leave their children alone with paints and pens and the home as their canvas, Hicks has some thoughts.
"My view, basically, whether you're in quarantine or not, is that kids drawing on the walls is fantastic—at a certain age," she tells House Beautiful.
As for her daughter? "She's 12, she's pretty together, she's incredibly organized. I mean, she was the best assistant I ever had. So when she says, 'I'm going to do a project,' I kind of trust her," says mom.
Tip: Confine the drawing to one area
Hicks notes that she set some boundaries: "I did say, 'Why don't we focus it into one area,' because I know these projects can get bigger and take longer than we imagine." Plus, not only does setting a (literal) parameter discourage too much freedom of expression in certain areas, but it gives children ownership of their own spaces. "I'm probably not going to let her paint my sitting room, but her own door is perfectly fine," quips Hicks.
Tip: Plan it out
With that as a guideline, Domino went to work: "She drew it out completely on her own," Hicks says. "She found the paint in the garden shed. She started painting on her own, and that was it."
It was a more successful project, the designer admits, than some that have taken over her creative household. "I've got four boys, two of them share a room, and some years ago when they were younger, they had the brilliant idea that they were going to graffiti all over the desk," she recalls. "And at first I thought this sounds really cool. And then when I saw it I thought, Oh, this is actually going to be quite hard to live with." So, Hicks laughs, "the graffiti ended up getting repainted."
Tip: Stick to repaint-able surfaces
And that's an important lesson, too: So long as the art is on a surface you could technically paint over, it's never really permanent, an important consideration for parents wondering how much freedom to give their kids. (And if you're looking for a really removable option, consider whiteboard paint—it comes in more colors than just white).
"We have five kids basically under house arrest, and they're all just reaming for some freedom," says Hicks. "And if that freedom can manifest itself by painting on their walls. I think that's fine. I think it should be encouraged. Because at the end of the day, you can always paint over it." Hear, hear!
While her kids tap into their creative sides, Hicks herself is turning to philanthropy, creating a group of local political and church leaders to start a Food Bank initiative to collect provisions for those oh Harbour Island struggling during the shutdown. Click here to support their efforts.
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For more Home Love ideas, head here—we'll be launching a new one every day until April 1st. And tag your own home project photos #homelove for everyone to enjoy.
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