Half the job of encouraging a child lies in avoiding discouragement.” (Rudolf Dreikurs)
My 5 year old got hold of my permananet flip-chart markers which I left in the hall after returning from my workshop last night.
At first I wanted to react and scream out of fear: “The ink will seep into your bloooooood, are you crazy?"
If in this moment the awareness is there: I can either walk away or make a comment where I notice what happened.
“You look like you are having a lot of fun with these markers.” or
“Your hand is now matching the colour of your football."
These less threatening remarks allow me to stay respectful and yet I don't mean that I am permissive or approve.
A great way of re-directing these choices would be to take time for training at a later stage.
You can choose less skin-damaging colouring.
While you let them experiment with what it is they need to learn, we can explain in a calm and detached manner
why permanent markers are the less favourable option.