A Texas mom thought her 5-year-old son was being "cute" and learning how to write her name, but the truth was something very different.
Breanna, who only shared her first name, took to Reddit, posting under the handle u/Gravyboat44, to share an image of what her son had been working on.
"He's been learning his alphabet, so he's figured out how to add words to these signs," she told Newsweek. "While I was making dinner, he kept excitedly running into the kitchen asking me how to write individual letters of my name."
Breanna initially assumed her son was practicing writing out her name. "He's been excited to spell things so I figured he was trying to write my name and I would have a cute picture moment afterwards," she said.
But then he said something that made her realize he had very different intentions. "Once I told him there were no more letters in my name, he asked me how to write 'NO'. I was like 'No Breanna? That's odd', and I asked him what he was making."
That was when Breanna discovered the unfortunate and admittedly hilarious truth.
Writing by hand may not be something many adults do day-to-day in these increasingly digital-focused times, but it's an invaluable skill for children to learn.
One study published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology saw researchers monitor the brain activity of students taking notes.
They found higher levels of electrical activity in the brains of those doing so by hand. This activity came across a wide range of regions of the brain, including those responsible for vision, movement, memory and sensory processing.
So while it's good news for her son's development, it was less good news for Breanna. Because, as it turned out, he wasn't practicing writing his mom's name, he was making a "no trespassing" sign for his room.
"My son is in his 'mischief' phase," Breanna said. "He often steals small things he wants to play with or drinks or snacks, so we're occasionally going into his room for one reason or another and end up finding what he's hiding. He found out about "no trespass" signs and started making a few of them, usually stating that we're not allowed to take toys from him for misbehavior."
To his way of thinking, it seemed he figured if his parents were no longer allowed in his room, they would be unable to retrieve the things he had borrowed. Though Breanna was surprised to find the sign and laughed about it with her husband soon after, she still felt the need to clarify a few things with her son.
"I sat him down and told him that while I understand his privacy, I unfortunately need to go into his room to help him with things, and also jokingly told him that if I wasn't allowed in his room, I couldn't handle any bugs that get in there and it would be all up to him," she said.
At the time of writing, Breanna's Reddit post, subtitled "Thought my son was being cute trying to write my name, turns out he was trying to make a sign stating that I'm not allowed in his room" has earned 1,800 upvotes. She's delighted at the response and is looking forward to sharing more of her son's shenanigans on social media in the not-too-distant future.
"It's a great way to cope with the ups and downs of having a 5 year old," she said.