My son eats crayons.

[FaerieDreamer]

I know they are non-toxic, so in the grand scheme of things it's not that big a deal.

But I would really like to break this habit of his. He would seriously rather eat crayons than dinner most nights. We let him color after he's done eating, to keep him at the table while Daddy and I are finishing eating. More often than not, he'll dump out all the crayons, pick a color and start chomping.


We've limited the number of crayons he can play with at a time, we've taken them away for days/weeks, we make him spit it all out. But nothing has curbed his crayon appetite.


I'm getting really tired of seeing dandelion yellow and cerulean blue streaked poo.



Please tell me he'll grow out of this?

[courey]

You could always switch to washable markers, or those markers that only work on certain paper. We use magnadoodles because I just can't hack one more mess to clean up - Kaiya would rather peel the paper off of the crayons than anything else, so we put them up.

[FaerieDreamer]

He tries to eat markers as well. I learned this lovely trick on vacation at this cool kids art studio in kansas city. He came out of there looking like a mini vampire.

I'm thinking of just getting rid of the art supplies in general for a while, but he does a great job with them at school so I don't know.

[dormilona]

chili powder. dilute it in water and spray down the crayons. he'll get a taste in his mouth that he doesn't like. it worked for the paste eaters in my family.

[Rose Bud]

Well if they are Crayola crayons, at least they're mostly soy! ;)

The Crayola Color-Wonder Markers won't make him look like a mini-vampire. They're the ones courey mentioned, that will only work on special paper. We have them, and tried them out ourselves. No marks on us, clothes, the coffee table, the walls, the cats, the windows, we really tried them on everything. We have the finger paints too.

[mellissima]

Or spraying a bit of vinegar on them.. I've never had to deal with this issue but I have heard vinegar or whiskey for nail biting/thumb sucking.

[FaerieDreamer]

i don't think I want to use the chili powder or anything like that yet. I don't want to completely turn him off crayons, it seems a little...invasive? (can't think of the word i want to use) to do something like that.

I think I'll look into those color wonder markers and paints. I've seen the commercials for them, just haven't really taken a look at them at the store. Are they expensive?


Rosebud: *laugh* yeah I know, that's why I said it's *that* big a deal, because I know eating crayons won't hurt him at all. It's just a habit I'd like to get rid of before he eats all the crayons in his box! :)

[Rose Bud]

FaerieDreamer--A mom on another board I post on had an idea that may help you out. Have you ever seen the Crayola Twistables? They are crayons, but not traditional ones. You twist the thing to get the crayon to come out of the top, kinda like a mechanical pencil. They too cost a bit more than a regular box of crayons--about 3-5 dollars per set.

The color-wonder markers are a bit pricey if you buy the markers alone. If you buy a set of markers and a book, or the markers, book, and a tote it isn't quite as bad. Like the average set is about 8-10 dollars and the set with a tote is just under 20.

I wouldn't use the chili powder or vinegar either. That seems to be too harsh of a reaction to something like eating crayons. Every kid to a certain extent chomps down on a crayon or two (or ten...). Unless they are doing something along the lines of refusing to eat anything BUT crayons, I wouldn't use things like vinegar or chili powder.