SINGAPORE — When Mr Afiq Omar came home to scribblings on the wall by his three-year-old son, he decided to frame it up instead of berating him. His decision to do so has earned praise from netizens for his gentle parenting style.

A viral TikTok video by Mr Afiq showed him being informed by his wife via text that their son Ilham Aariz had drawn on the wall, along with a photo of Ilham bawling.

When he returned home, Mr Afiq beckoned Ilham, who was hiding bashfully behind the door, to his artwork and asked him about the drawing he made.

“It’s a finger one finger,” replied the child.

Mr Afiq then informed Ilham that he was going to frame the drawing up. Two screws and an electric drill later, the art is framed with a black frame, with a label below.

In a cheeky reference to museum plaques, Mr Afiq listed the name of the artist, the title of the artwork and the medium of the artwork on the label:

“Ilham Aariz (b. 2021), Finger One Finger, Dec 2023, Metal, USB on concrete”.

Upon seeing the art installation, Mr Afiq’s wife burst into laughter.

“You’re just going to encourage him to draw more on your wall,” she said.

He replied: “That’s the whole point.”

The video, posted on Tuesday (Jan 9) gained over 170,000 views and 17,000 likes within three days.

“This is me as a parent. Feels like just yesterday I was doing the exact same thing at my parents' home,” wrote Mr Afiq in his captions.

Netizens were supportive of Mr Afiq’s parenting style, as most felt that it encouraged the child’s creativity.

One TikTok user said: “I once had a discussion with a friend about this. He said he didn't care about the graffiti on the wall. It's an art.”

“When I was a child, I loved to draw on the wall. One day, my mum prepared a room just for me and my siblings to scribble anything on the wall… it was honestly quite an eyesore but full of memories,” another recounted.

“Now that we have grown up... All of my siblings can draw and have our creative sides! Very thankful to my mom for doing that for us.”

A third TikToker commented: “Maybe one day your son will have his own art exhibition at one of Singapore's art galleries!”

However, while finding the whole encounter adorable, others advised Mr Afiq to find alternative mediums of drawing to prevent more frames from appearing in his house.

“This is so cute, but teach him and redirect him to draw on paper. Start a scrapbook for him. Or get him an easel,” said an online user.

Another said: “This kind of parenting is cute, (but) he should have his own sketchbook! Maybe that will help him bloom his talent.”

TODAY has reached out to Mr Afiq.

In 2017, a couple from Canada had similarly framed up their child’s drawing on the wall and posted it on X (formerly known as Twitter) to the delight of many netizens. 

“Your kids are going to do things they shouldn’t. It helps if you married someone with a sense of humour,” tweeted Mr Eric Massicotte, with a picture of a marker drawing of a house within a black frame.

In 2022, netizens were heartened by a Singapore father who allowed his children to doodle all over his white Mazda sedan in a viral video, calling it a “priceless work of art”. 

A video of a mother in China allowing her two-year-old daughter to paint on the family’s white Porsche also went viral in 2022.

Netizens in China debated the suitability of letting a child paint on an expensive car, though many came to the defence of the mother as they felt that the child's happiness is most important.