Mom thought her toddler was playing quietly—then he did the ‘unthinkable’
As a mom of five, I’ve had my fair share of “unthinkable moments.” I’m talking about the time a toddler turned my walls into an abstract masterpiece, the day I found a Sharpie smiley face permanently tattooed onto my car’s leather seats, and—yes—the unforgettable moment when my child used his own poop as paint during nap time (!!!!).
So when I saw Chicago-based mom Grace Kaage’s viral Instagram post featuring her toddler’s two-minute Sharpie attack on her white couches, I felt seen. And judging by the 31 million views and thousands of comments on her video about the Sharpie rampage, we are not alone.
The two-minute parenting black hole
Kaage, a real estate and design business owner, shared the story that every parent knows too well: the moment you let your guard down for a second and chaos ensues.
“It all happened so fast,” she told Newsweek. Her son, Christian, was happily playing in the living room while she cooked dinner. She could see him the entire time—or so she thought.
Then, her husband walked in and gasped.
Kaage turned around to find her pristine white couches covered in red Sharpie. Christian, meanwhile, stood beaming, so proud of his “art.” His first words?
“Mommy, look—I colored everything!”
When silence means trouble
If you’ve ever parented a toddler, you know: silence is suspicious.
These tiny humans have an uncanny ability to turn two minutes of quiet into a full-blown home renovation. One minute they’re stacking blocks, the next they’ve turned an entire couch into a crime scene.
And for parents, the response matters.
Staying calm (even when you want to scream)
Kaage, like many parents navigating toddler mischief, knew that yelling wouldn’t help.
“He’s only 2, so he truly just didn’t know any better,” she said. Instead of freaking out, she turned it into a learning moment—letting him help clean up, talking through what happened, and setting clear expectations.
Parenting experts back this up. Studies, like this 2018 research published in the International Journal of Advanced Scientific Research and Management, show that harsh discipline can negatively impact brain development. Meanwhile, research on parental emotion socialization suggests that supportive and calm responses help children develop better emotion regulation skills, reducing frustration and promoting self-control.
Additionally, a study published in Journals of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology found that parental verbal aggression—such as yelling, threats, or name-calling—was strongly linked to worsening oppositional behavior in children. The study also highlighted that harsh discipline predicted increases in antagonism and irritability, reinforcing the importance of calm and supportive parenting approaches.
Kaage learned from experience. Her older daughter had once colored on the walls, and after one calm conversation, she never did it again. The hope? That Christian will take the same lesson to heart.
Related: How I learned to discipline my kids without shame or punishment
The internet’s take
Parents in the comments totally related:
“When we first got pregnant and were picking out furniture for the nursery, I asked my husband his opinion on which for the dresser and crib. And he replied, ‘whatever color looks best with crayon’ . Words to live by! Hope it all came out!” —
�� @all4mykyds
“My almost 2-year-old did that (One and 9 months). I asked him firmly, ‘What did you do?’ and he said, ‘Oh oh. This not paper. Oh oh mommy.’ I said, ‘Well, you made a mess, now you have to do what?’ He said, ‘Um cleaning it.’ So I took out the water vac, showed him how to use it, and made him clean. Did he do a good job? No. Was it clean? No. But he learned something.” — @ka.lada
“The way I gasped so loud my partner yelled ‘WHAT’ from the next room.” — @biancambeemer
Others were impressed by her patience:
“Please teach us: how did you manage to keep yourself together?” – @alettafevy
“So calm. Her name is Grace ” –
�� @ chronnoisseur
“You are a great parent. The “I love you” at the end. ”
❤ ❤ – @ltruglio23
Every parent has this moment—the one where you have to decide: Do I explode, or do I take a deep breath and laugh?
Because in the grand scheme of things, couch art is fixable. (Kaage got the Sharpie out with “serious elbow grease.”) What really matters is how kids learn from it.
And who knows? Maybe little Christian’s next design project won’t involve permanent markers.
Related: 10 positive parenting phrases to stay calm when you’re on the verge, mama
Sources:
Linking Maternal Emotion Socialization to Boys’ and Girls’. University of Konstanz. Linking Maternal Emotion Socialization to Boys’ and Girls’ Emotion Regulation in Korea.
A Review of the Effects of Corporal Punishment. Research Gate. A Review of the Effects of Corporal Punishment on Brain Development in Young Children.
Reciprocity in Undesirable Parent–Child Behavior? National Library of Medicine. Reciprocity in Undesirable Parent–Child Behavior? Verbal Aggression, Corporal Punishment, and Girls’ Oppositional Defiant Symptoms.
