Yes, I’d be mortified if it was my son who’d scratched the £42m work. But talk of limiting access to great art is just wrongheadedThe news that a child damaged a £42m Mark Rothko painting at a museum in Rotterdam last month had me wondering how I’d feel if my toddler was the culprit. The work, Grey, Orange on Maroon, No 8, sustained small, superficial scratches to the lower part of the painting during an “unguarded” moment, which, while not a disaster, does mean it will have to be taken off display and restored. It comes less than a year after a four-year-old boy smashed a 3,500-year-old jar at the Hecht Museum in Israel.Honestly, I’d be mortified. Not embarrassed for my child, who is too little to understand, but because as his parent I had taken my eye off the ball. I would blame myself. I’d also be terrified I would be made to pay for it.Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett is a Guardian columnist. The Republic of Parenthood book will be published this summerDo you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.