What things did your parents do that you look back on and think ‘that was clever’?

[Geekster1963]

My Mum used to give me and my sisters a fruit gum each on long journeys (the old Rowntrees ones that used to be hard), to see who could make it last the longest. We thought it was great as we were getting a sweet but it stopped us from arguing. Clever.

I remember when my first baby tooth came out I lost it in the garden and was devastated my Mum told me to write a note to the tooth fairy and put it under my pillow. I was so excited to see she had been and left me some money and said she’d found my tooth in the garden

When we played trivial pursuit, my dad used to ‘read’ out questions about children’s literature whenever I landed on brown. ‘Arts and Literature’ is still my favourite colour, because I’m so good at it.

He also told my newspaper, in an interview feature, that his favourite author was PGWodehouse. I doubt now that that was true. But of course I went and found it as I took the next steps in reading, into what would now be the YA lit zone.

Water was always known as 'Council Pop' in our house.

my mum was very good about never slagging off our dad or his new wife to us, even though she had been emotionally and financially shafted by them.

My mum was a complete genius at 'i'm bored' moments. I remember one when she looked at me in a measuring way and said 'i think youre old enough now for Molesworth' and i then spent the rest of the day immersed in the first Molesworth book. It was a bit complicated for me but she'd made it a matter of pride to read it! I have loved them ever since.

Anothr day she showed me how to use the sewing machine to make patterns of holes in paper. I loved doing that and it was exciting using the machine.

IfIWasABirdIdFlyIn2ACeilingFan

It has been an incredibly hot summer so some of the smaller pumpkins he recruited last year found it too hard to fight, and some of the bigger pumpkins have retired to the pumpkin army OAP home so the giant Pumpkin will have to recruit further and faster this year, going places he hasn't been before.

YesItsMeIDontCare

We used to do the sea thing, then it became a list of things (sea, boat, orangina advert if we were going to France), then a game where one nominated the 'thing' and who ever saw it first nominated another thing. We took a friend on an outing once and she picked, 'a purple mini' as her 'thing', I think it was the only time we gave up.

That’s a very good point sashh!

When we were small, one of my uncles called water Borough Council Beer. We felt so grown up being allowed to drink beer when we went to visit them.

This is one of my favourite threads ever!! Thanks OP!!

Such a nice thread to read! Makes me nostalgic for my own childhood and all the daft stuff I did with my dc!

wanderings glad I wasn't the only one who interacted with trolls!

So many other memories! We used to walk the dogs round a lovely country park when the dc were little, and we had so many "things". There was the hobbit that lived in the tree- they used to knock his door and I he would speak to them (but never in front of other people!) Then there were the fairies in the Glen that grown-ups couldn't hear (I'd do the tinkley laughing them tell them they were hearing things, only for them to remind me that I was a grown-up, so couldn't judge!). We had the crocodile pond, and the lovely park ranger backed me up on how he put the naughty ones in the crocodile jail (a fenced off area!)

Happy days

We do the one cuts the other chooses, it has saved so many arguments!

It rained on a day we were promised a picnic, so my (late) mum said we were going to have a carpet picnic and let us eat in bed! It was the best thing ever.

I’m going off to cry now.

This is a lovely thread. I've nominated it for classics.

I do the fairy’s in the glen with DD I told her that the mushrooms are their chairs and tables and they only come out when there is no one around because they are so small.

My DD recently lost her first tooth and she asked why the fairy’s want them so I said it’s because they use them to build houses and they sell them to other fairies too so they have money to give you for your teeth. I love firing up her imagination like my mum and dad did with me.

bitchywaitress that’s lovely it’s the little things like that that we remember. We had fish and chips in front of the telly one year just before Christmas we never ate dinner not at the table let alone with the telly on! Was a real treat. Hope your okay.

My dad used to play this game with us , where the room would need to be so perfect but one thing to be misplaced and he needs to come and guess what that thing was..

It was a way to get us to tidy up the entire room and just mess up one little thing. It was a great way to help us with some eye for detail. Lols . Felt like a game to us.

Nothing as nice as other posters, but I put food colouring in plain yogurt for my daughter when there's no strawberry. She gets less sugar and can make swirly patterns before eating it.

The occasional item of clothing that DM considered 'inappropriate' would somehow mysteriously disappear; I was a scatty teenager with a messy room so I would often forget about said item for months and then have either no idea where it went or secretly suspect that DM has thrown it out; but I could never be sure!

DM was also always incredibly sympathetic towards any teenager/young woman who had an unplanned pregnancy. Her first child was much wanted; she was older/married to a supportive husband/in decent financial circumstances, and she still found it the toughest thing she ever did. That abject sympathy warned me off getting pregnant accidentally, much better than any lecturing or judgement ever could have.

If my mum ever came home with fizzy drinks, or cake, basically anything that was a treat that me and my brother had to share. She’d ask one of us to cut it, pour equal amounts etc, and the other one got to choose which one they wanted. That way there was no arguments, just hours of careful measuring of said treat so the other sibling didn’t get a bigger portion

All the water tricks have made me smile as I used to do this for my wee brother. He’s 5 years younger than me. I used to call it magic lemonade and I’d go into the kitchen and pull out loads of bottles from the cupboard and pretend to pour them all in to a cup, then tell him to close his eyes and fill the cup with tap water lol. I told him it could taste like anything he wanted it to- I can still remember him taking a huge gulp up water and going ‘mmmmm.... hot dogs!’ 😂 I might have to remind him of this!

We had a neighbour who was so lovely to us kids. She had a money tree at the top of the garden.(She did) You had to dance around the tree and sing a little song, then go back down to the patio and take off your shoes and socks and pennies would fall out..

My favourite was my DDad's story about his own DM. They were small DC before the war and they all decided they didn't like carrots anymore. So instead of cutting them into discs as normal, she cut them into batons and told them they were this wonderful, exotic vegetable, an artichoke! They all loved artichokes and it was years before my DDad cottoned on.

My DGM died when my DDad was only 22, way before I was born but he told me loads of stories about her, to keep her memory alive.

My grandad used to call it corporation pop.

My grandad also convinced me his street was called Tin Pan Alley. Years later after he passed and I was old enough to drive I ventured out to where he lived and drove in circles looking for tin pan alley I eventually rang my mum for directions she burst into laughter and told me it was made up

We also had the sandman at my grans she used to sprinkle glitter on the foot of the bed that showed that he had been and I was fast asleep thinking of it now that's some creepy story!

My dad told us the ice cream van only plays his music when he has run out of ice cream

We once had a spider web on the wing mirror of our car I was and still am petrified of spiders and wouldn't get in the car so my dad told me he was called Alfred billy bob and he looks after our car at night which made getting in the car no problem now because he was looking after us now every time I see a spider web I always think of Alfred billy bob

My grandma used to tell me Peter rabbit lived in an old tree stump on a route we'd go for a long walk on. I'd get very excited to go talk to him down it and say 'Helloo'. We also took sugar lumps for the ponies on another route we walked, and my grandad would dole out a piece of chocolate from his pockets when 'My little legs hurt!' ( I dragged my heels a lot as a kid and was a pain in the bum on long walks). 😁

One Christmas Eve, friends telling their DC that the International Space Station was Father Christmas on his rounds ...

We had to be able to swim two lengths of a pool before we were allowed in the deep end.

My grandmother's answer to "I'm bored" was "stand on your head and bark like a rabbit". She also taught me not to be afraid of spiders.

Bumping this as I feel it needs more stories,
been a lovely read thank you.

Mum has always had one low cupboard in the kitchen with all her plastic items in. If any child/ grandchild tried to open any other cupboard, they were guided back to "their" cupboard. Whichever house she lived in, it was always an end cupboard so it meant she didn't trip over the child or whatever they had out of the cupboard. Only plastic items so they didn't make too much noise when they became a drum or the tower made from them fell over.

Did you know, that the quieter you are, the more it snows? This apparently is because the noise from shouting with excitement when you see the first snowflakes will melt them and stop more coming.