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

Sharing something
One cuts the other chooses.

Best thing ever!

We used to play Mr McGregor, inspired by the irascible gardener of Beatrix Potter's stories. My dad would sit at the dining room table doing his accounts, a skipping rope and a pile of carrots on the floor beside him. We would creep up and try to steal his carrots. Every so often he would shoot out an arm and grab a "rabbit" and tie them to the table leg with the skipping rope. All of us rabbits would have to rescue our colleague. This is the main reason I wanted three children. I still remember the thrill of it!

My parents deny all knowledge of this but I remember it clear as day, and they must have roped someone else in to help:

I must have been about 7 or 8, so starting to question the existence of Father Christmas. It was the day the Christmas tree was due to come down - it was an artificial one. We were at home and the tree was still up, then we went to pick up my dad from work and when we got home the tree had gone and my mom told me Father Christmas must have come to pick it up. There was no sign. I was amazed.

I’m also amazed that my parents are still keeping up the pretence as they claim to not remember this at all!

See I hated 'one cuts the other chooses'. It surely just shifts the argument to which poor bugger has to cut.

These are so lovely, thanks OP. I especially love the Snow Goose and Giant Pumpkin!

When we had friends or cousins to stay my dad used to say that if we were quiet he might forget we were still up. We played super quietly and he would “remember” about 20 mins after our bedtime and put us to bed then - always felt like a major victory and worked for years. He also switched films on me so when I asked to watch Jaws he’d said yes but put Flipper on. And he and my mum always worked really hard to make Christmas so magical, we had the reindeer eating carrots thing too.

These are really heartwarming and just show that kids don’t remember the material things from childhood but the lovely kind things their parents did and the games they played.

Oh @Geekster1963 we played the fruit gum game but with polos! hours Minutes of blissful silence for my mum!

Father Christmas has a magic key, obviously.

My grandad used to give me an article in the news paper and tell me I had to cross out every 's' (different letter every time), he would then have to read it to check I hadn't missed any out. I still remember patiently waiting for him to read it, hoping I had managed to cross them all out!

I also remember buying him a pen from Disneyland Paris when I was about 6, and he convinced me that it could only write in French. I made him write different words for ages, I couldn't believe it!

Another one my grandma used to do was give us a handful of pennies and one of us kids had to go and hide them around the garden, then the other had to find them. The one who had hidden them had to follow the 'finder' round telling them if they were 'hot' or 'cold' (close to or far away from a penny)

What a great thread!
DM used to always put my underwear on the radiator on cold days so they were cosy to put on.

I know that’s not really what you asked but i love that she did that!

It’s the little kind things like that that we remember though Goofy

Geekster
Think i may be your mum (except im a year older than you)
I used to give dc a fruit polo to see who could get it thinnest before it broke.
And when ds lost his tooth we wrote a note to TF and she wrote back saying she didnt mind as they are rather heavy and she was grateful she didnt need to carry it back to fairyland

bruffin

@tenbob my daughter has spider spray lol

My dad has a scar on his chest, and he always used to tell me he’d got it from wrestling crocodiles or fighting sharks Mum used to buy melons so we could scrape the seeds out, dye them with food colouring and make jewellery

My parents had very little and Christmas was a stretch, so when I wanted to make some tree ornaments which called for Christmas wrapping paper there wasn't any money to buy more

So my late mum suggested some left over birthday wrap would be just the thing, as it was after all Jesus's birthday

That was over half a century ago and I still have one of those ornaments, which goes on my tree every year

When my Auntie & Uncle were over at our house (which was often), and it was time to go to bed, my mother would tell me that Auntie A and Uncle G were fed up of us. A&G didn't have children of their own so my brother & I dutifully went to bed.

We now know that it was actually my mother who was fed up of us, and poor A&G were innocent victims in this charade.

She was a SAHM, and since having a child I can absolutely see why she did this, but it crops up often in when we are reminiscing.

When I was little I lived playing with dolls. If a doll got broken/arm pulled off etc my mum would send the doll away to the "dolly hospital" to get better. Sure enough a few weeks later the doll would appear again, as good as new-literally! I totally believed that there was a real dolly hospital with kjnd nurses making them better!

Loved not lived. Sorry.

My dad told me that the ATM machine was a game and if you won it gave you prize money. So of course he always won when he went to play

We were very poor growing up. But my mum and dad tried their best. Specially my mum who worked 3 jobs as my dad was unable to work. My dad cared for us, was always willing to help the people around us, and could make and fix anything. Im not saying it just because hes my dad but ive never known anyone else like him. He had given up smoking but would take us on walking adventures where we would compete to see who could find the most "treasure".(tokens from fag packets like gratis points from b&h) We managed to get a nice hifi after only a few months as we lived in an area populated by messy students. Every so often him and some other dads would wander up and down the streets as students would dump perfectly good and usable items. The end of the uni year was great! Kettles, irons, tables, appliances such as washers, vacuum cleaners etc.( He couldnt bear any waste at all). Once they even found a gigantic haul of carpet. (6-7 rolls of axminster) It was rolled out on the green behind our flats and anyone who needed carpet was told to come and take what they wanted. Nearly every flat had a bit of this posh carpet. My mum still had some in her hall up til 2 years ago. It never faded or wore out. He loved a skip find and was very proud of me for finding a table with two matching chairs. We had them for years. He was very kind and would give away stuff to our equally poor neighbours. I remember him pulling a carpet sweeper (eubank?) from a skip that worked perfectly and me crying and holding onto it for dear life when he passed it to our elderly neighbour. When my dad died the whole community came together to support my mum and us. Mum only found out the full extent of his habit from stories us kids, friends and neighbours told her over the years. For instance she never knew our 60's dining table was a skip find until my brother told her in passing. Because of my dad if I have to get rid of something Ill try to pass it on to someone who needs it.

My dad taught me how to identify quite dangerous Vampire Tree - (trees with prominent roots.) At night Vampire Trees uproot themselves and walk menacingly round parks looking for smaller saplings to fell (or larger more established trees depending on the maturity of The Vampire Tree.) After storms, it’s quite apparent where the Vampire Trees have attacked. It’s very important to be able to accurately identify a Vampire Tree for obvious safety reasons.

The dangers of daydreaming for too long. If you find yourself daydreaming for too long then you’re in grave danger of being taken to The Faery King’s palace to dance the Tarantella (or which ever dance is popular at that time) at one of his many extravagant balls. Dad would ask after the Faery King when we came round from a spell of daydreaming (the set answer was to reply that he’s well and sends his best regards.)

On finding pennies - place them in a high place as an offering to the Faeries.

On finding ornate feathers - place them upright, in a high place, to return them to the Faeries (usually been lost by one of the Faery’s steeds.)

Can pretty confidently distinguish between hobgoblins and troll lairs too... a gift I thank my long departed Dad xXx

(Also, if you don’t already then please salute a lone magpie whilst saying, ‘morning Captain,’ otherwise unknown misfortune may come your way - you have been warned 🤔🤩🤣😂🤯🤪😜)

When I was a kid & still learning how to get dressed, on cold days my mum would heat up my clothes by the heater

My parents are very thrifty people so saving money continuously was a very smart thing they did

My mum still does lots of kind little things for me when I'm home!

When I was very young we went on a family trip to London. I was too scared to go on the Underground. My parents cleverly suggested we went on the Tube instead

When my lovely grandad died, we were round my nans sharing memories putting together some bits for his funeral. I mentioned something about how he loved ice cream. My Nan started laughing. Apparently he couldn't stand ice cream but every Sunday they would take us out and we would get an ice cream. My grandad always got a strawberry ice cream, I was sure it was his favourite.

According to my Nan he always got one because I was notoriously clumsy and more often than not would drop my ice cream, so grandad would give me his. So the poor bloke bought and ate an extra ice cream every Sunday just in case I dropped mine