I let my son draw on walls as a baby — now he’s a painter and my home is covered in art

Parenting

By Brooke Steinberg

Letting kids draw on the walls might actually be a good thing.

A mother from Peru let her son draw on walls since he was just a baby — and believes that’s what led him to be a budding artist.

Adianée Peña García allowed her son Santiago Daniel to draw on every wall of their family home when he was just 10 months old.

“He started to draw all over the walls but he seemed so happy that I couldn’t stop him,” the single mom told Southwest News Service.

Santiago Daniel, now four years old, had drawn so much that the family had to re-paint before moving out.

While his mom believed she raised an artist, not everyone was thrilled with Santiago Daniel’s scribbles.

“At the beginning, my brother didn’t like it because it wasn’t our house, but then he saw how much Santiago Daniel enjoyed it,” Adianée said. “He basically painted every wall in the house. Our bedroom, the hallway, the kitchen and the living room were covered.”

“The landlord saw it too when we left and he looked so shocked, but we were already painting over it so it was fine.”

Now, Santiago Daniel spends at least 40 minutes per day painting and has a new piece of art to show every day — and Adianée said one of his pieces resembles Van Gogh’s Starry Night.

His favorite things to paint come from cartoons he watches on TV, particularly The PJ Masks, Disney’s Luca or Mickey Mouse, though he doesn’t always sit still.

“I don’t make him do anything so he gets distracted and goes to play with something else and then comes back later. He’s only four,” his mom shared.

Adianée has a creative touch as well and thinks her son might have gotten the inspiration from watching her. When they first moved to Peru from Venezuela in 2017, they had no money, so Adianée made toys for her son on her own.

“I made him books, teddy bears, I made a chimney for us one Christmas, so we could have a classic Christmas,” she shared. “Santiago Daniel would lie next to me and watch while I painted them, he would grab at my paintbrushes too.”

He even tried to copy his mom’s grip on the paintbrush to hold it correctly.

Adianée believes parents shouldn’t stop their kids from drawing on walls.

“I think if he had done it and I had taken away his crayons it would have killed his passion for creativity. I’ve seen parents do that and their kids just don’t enjoy painting like Santiago Daniel does,” she said.

She added, “I would recommend other parents let their children be. They probably won’t all be artists because they scribbled on the walls but they shouldn’t limit something that could help their growth, their creativity. They shouldn’t see it as naughty thing. Walls can be re-painted and kids are kids.”