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Original poster

Hiding your children's favorite books and other bad parenting techniques

45 replies

BumptiousandBustly · 27/04/2011 07:46

I confess: I sometimes hide my children's favorite books, as I just can't, CAN'T cope with reading them again!

Please tell me the things you do that are "bad parenting" to make me feel better.

(NB I do return them eventually)

OP posts:
IgnoringTheChildren · 28/04/2011 13:41

"Sorry DS1, you can't use the computer at the moment as the internet isn't working properly and I've got lots of work to do!" - said about 50% of the time when DS1 wants to play games on the cbeebies website or "send a message to Granny" (FFS - she does like it when he sends her random letter combination emails but then she replies with pictures etc attached and then I have to print them out...)

Strangely enough MN always seems to work fine, which is a good thing as it's where I do most of my "work" Grin

I have also sent to the charity shop various cheap plastic crap presents he's received and occasionally "lose" his favourite dvd when I can no longer face watching it (alright - listening to it while I "work").

Plus we've convinced him that when he goes to bed DH and I do jobs around the house all evening (in fairness this does seem to be true at the moment Hmm ) and that if he thinks he can hear the tv, it's actually the radio on while we work.

TethersEnd · 28/04/2011 13:45

There's lots of betting in our house.

"I bet DD(2) can't get up those stairs"

"I bet she can"

"No, she can't go all the way upstairs- that's what big girls do"

"Wow! she did it! I am stunned, I really am"

"I bet she can't brush her teeth"

I reckon this technique will work for about one more week.

WillaCather · 28/04/2011 13:46

The chocolate and sweets by the checkout are for dogs (worked when he was 2). And now the internet is broken. Has been for days. As you can tell.

BertieBotts · 28/04/2011 13:48

Sometimes I tell DS I'm going to hoover when I have no intention of doing so, so that he will go upstairs and give me some peace. He's terrified of it so he hides upstairs at the merest suggestion.

Usually he gets distracted as soon as he's up there and plays happily, but sometimes I feel bad when he's clearly just standing at the top of the stairs shouting "Finished yet Mummy?" Blush

I told my friend this and she rolled about laughing for about 10 minutes and then said I was mean!

BertieBotts · 28/04/2011 13:50

Still, he gets me back. He likes to come to me in a panic saying "Mummy, there's a pider!" and then take me all over the house in a spider hunt before ascertaining that it's just a bit of fluff. But not without the horrible sense of dread that one day it will be a spider...

fatheadsgirl · 28/04/2011 13:56

I hide all my DDs Barbie 'Books,' they're just too awful! Have also turned more than one page at a time, she catches me now though.

Deliberately left DPs PSP on all day and then hid the charger so he couldnt play it in bed. He was not a happy bunny. Turned the bedroom upside down looking for the charger, I even helped him look cause Im nice like that. Eventually I told him to call his mum and see if he'd left it here when he visited at the weekend. Of course Id text her earlier so she told him she found it when she was tidying and she'd post it down.

Im not satisfied with just being a bad parent, I like to go the extra mile and be a bad GF too :)

pingu2209 · 28/04/2011 19:09

Too many to mention all of them, but here are a few:

  • Coca Cola is for over 15 year olds.
  • XBox is for over 15 year olds.
  • The Postman Pat ride (for 50p a go) is broken (despite the lights working).
  • Eating the veg will make you into a Power Ranger, the more carrotts you eat the greater chance of being the Red Ranger.
  • When a lady becomes a mummy she gets given things in hospital: nappies, baby clothes, eyes in the back of her head, Father Christmas' telephone number...
  • I can tell if you are lieing, your lips move.
ByTheSea · 28/04/2011 19:10

Chicken Licken used to be hidden schmidden.

heliumballoons · 28/04/2011 19:18

tethers I do the betting here too. DS is 6 now and it still works.

Me: 'I bet I can dressed quicker than you'
DS: starts to complain about a race, and how I can, and why does he have to rush.
Me: ' I've got my pjs off', I'm gonna win'
DS 'I'm not racing'
Me: 'I'm nearly dressed'
DS: 'Ha I won' Grin

They may think they can't fall for it or their too old.............. [cwink]

Elk · 28/04/2011 19:23

The book 'You Choose' was hidden for ages. I don't mind them choosing but it isn't very interesting when they choose the same things every day.

I put new batteries in the wrong way round so I can prove the toy doesn't work any more and that they will just have to use it without the noise/lights etc.

chunkythighs · 28/04/2011 20:07

All displays of sweets are not actually for sale......the shop owners like to 'show off' all the sweets they have.

Also the moving cars/trains etc are very badly maintained in my area as they are always broken........

CheerMum · 28/04/2011 20:28

"Wouldn't it be nice to keep some toys at Nanny's house (MIL), like that crying doll, microphone and electronic keyboard. I bet Nanny would like that."

(evil cackle)

rocketleaf · 28/04/2011 20:43

Storing up all these parenting 'techniques' for the future.

My exDP always told a story about getting a police car with a bell in it for Xmas when he was small. His dad had taken it apart and removed the bell by the time they had Xmas lunch. I always thought this was super mean but now think it was probably a stroke if genius.

tralalala · 28/04/2011 21:05

Elk.. 'you choose' got lost at our house, as though I liked it the first 50 odd times I could no longer wait for each of them choose everything.

Mr Men books can only be read by men (i hate the way they are written)

in shops i used to say 'oh we cant have that it's not ours' for anything they picked up. worked everytime.

raffle · 28/04/2011 21:15

I can't quite bring myself to remove the batteries from annoying toys, but I have no issues with sticking micropore over the speaker thingys. Works a treat, lowers the decibel by 50% at least Grin

BoosMaw · 28/04/2011 21:54

I gave DD's Tweenies and The Wiggles DVDs to the charity shop, it was either that or hurl them out the window. Thing is they were her favourites, she loved them and watched them so often, I'd really had enough!

I also chuck most of her artwork straight in the recycling, and 'disappeared' several of her fifth birthday presents, she has just so much stuff already, sometimes I feel I can't move for stuff.

She was given a terrible crying baby by FIL, it also 'disappeared', sadly she'd also declared that was her favourite.

I'm a bitch mother.

Loolah · 28/04/2011 22:26

all noisy toys stay at the grandparents, if they sneak their way into my house I take them right back.

rumpleteaser · 29/04/2011 07:44

When I was a teenager, yes, teenager, my mum bought me a Furby.
It was creepy and never shut up and I had to hide it from my mum as she thought it was brilliant!

Grockle · 29/04/2011 07:57

We also have an ice-cream van that only plays music when it's run out of ice-cream Blush DS(5) is just beginning to question this.

Lots of books 'go missing' for a while if they have been read over and over and over again.

The lovely sweet shop lady told DS she's only allowed to sell the lollies on a Tuesday (we were there on a Saturday)

Grockle · 29/04/2011 08:02

And sometimes DS has to go to bed early because mummy has lots of MNing work to do

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