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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To not let DS waste nice stickers from a sticker book on the sofa?

50 replies

Mrscog · 03/08/2015 14:40

Just sat down to do a nice Usborne sticker book with DS (he's 3.5), we did the first two pages nicely, but then he started putting stickers on the sofa. I've put my foot down and said that sticker book stickers are for the book not for the sofa. I've given him some 'non sticker book stickers' now for him to mess about with but he's going mad about having the book taken away and OBVIOUSLY the stickers I've given him are not as fun as the ones out the book.

Am I super mean and slightly ott about the proper placement of stickers? Or am I setting a good example about doing things 'properly'? I just can't bear to see nice things wasted and modged with!

OP posts:

Glitteryarse · 03/08/2015 15:04

I feel your pain but I stopped being the sticker police and let dd stick them where she likes apart from wall paper.

No one fucks with my Laura Ashley wallpaper

Mrsfrumble · 03/08/2015 15:07

If you had a leather sofa the stickers may leave a mark I guess. Our sofa is covered in a rough-weave fabric so stickers are very easy to remove.

No scribbling on the walls though! Not that DD doesn't have a go every single time she gets her hands on a pencil / crayon / biro, but I don't condone it.

With play doh, they learn soon enough that mixing it all together results in a sludgy brown mess. If that bothers them, they'll stop (we had some tears when DS realised that I couldn't "unmix" it for him, but he didn't do it again). If it doesn't I think we (parents) should just accept that we buy play doh for our children, not ourselves and we should let them get on with it.

MaidOfStars · 03/08/2015 15:11

I had a houseful of children a few weeks ago. I am still finding little stickers in various places. Behind the radiator in the downstairs loo was the last I located....

greyleaf · 03/08/2015 15:11

shit i thought i was bad for this glad im not the only one my kids are not allowed the dam sticker books anymore because they wont play nicely with them and put the stickers in the right places

TheOddity · 03/08/2015 15:12

YABU to give an age inappropriate sticker book and then enpext it to be used in an age appropriate way for the book. It's like giving them painting by numbers at age 3.5. What do you expect?! Hide the book or let them go wild on the sofa.

FurtherSupport · 03/08/2015 15:16

Oh let him use them in whatever creative way he wants, provided it's not doing damage.

My 2 are 12 & 14yo and we've been having a bit of a clear out. I've found loads of unused sticker books and craft sets which they didn't enjoy because I used to insist on them being done "properly"

SantanaBinLorry · 03/08/2015 15:19

Big Brown blobby playdough, stickered and drawn on walls kinda house here... meh, they are only small for a while, not like they will be doing it forever. Relax, enjoy their creativity and 're paint when they get past it.

DoJo · 03/08/2015 16:30

I allow stickers to be used in non-orthodox ways so long as they aren't anywhere that I wouldn't allow any stickers - I was brought up by 'stick in the proper places' parents, and recently found a box of stickers from my childhood that I had never used because I couldn't find the 'best' place for them. I loved them and had visions of making a beautiful collage from them, but the rules did stifle my creativity a little and I always heard my mum saying 'once you've stuck it, you can't un-stick it'. I gave the box to my son who had stuck them all within about 10 minutes and thoroughly enjoyed the process.
Plus, what do you do with a sticker book once the stickers are all stuck in? Just look at them? I would have thought that the sticking is the point rather than the finished article...

happylittlevegemites · 03/08/2015 16:36

I disagree with the majority I think - YANBU. DS has lots more fun doing a sticker book "properly".

My husband just hands over the goods and it's a sticker free for all. I'm then left to explain why there aren't enough stickers to complete the book. Sad face :(

I'm the same with play doh colours too. Yellow and pink - yes, that's fine. Can't make green or blue next as it'll turn the now-peach to brown sludge.

Heels99 · 03/08/2015 16:38

My children are 7 they have never put stickers on furniture or walls that is not allowed at all.

whois · 03/08/2015 17:05

Yikes seriously NO to any stickers on anything other than the sticker book or a nice big piece of plain or coloured paper. Stickers shouldn't be stuck to walls, cupboards, sofa etc

Artandco · 03/08/2015 17:11

No stickers on sofa here!

We let gluing happen in house though. All art is allowed paint/ glue/ pens/ clay/ stickers as long as their butt is on dining table chair at all times and the stuff only put on paper in front of them at table.

Mind you, we also have a all drinks and food at table only rule which some seem to think is terrible

GingerFoxInAT0phat · 03/08/2015 17:18

My ds would be bored to tears having to stick the stickers in the correct place.

Stickers are pretty much a free for all here.,

littlejohnnydory · 03/08/2015 17:20

I'd let my dc stick stickers anywhere they wanted. They can be removed and don't damage anything. I don't let them draw on walls but let them chalk on the outside of the house. Our house isn't at all posh though and the sofa is off freecycle. I don't see the problem even if we had an expensive sofa.

I like to think that I give them freedom to be creative, develop motor skills and enjoy crafts - but I would keep an expensive sticker book like Usborne for special too and see no problem with that (and don't see it as inappropriate for 3.5...can always put it away if they show no interest). They have plenty of pound shop sticker books to use in a different way.

Lovelydiscusfish · 03/08/2015 17:24

What are some of your sofas made of, to be damaged by stickers? Mine is a kind of woven fabric, on which stickers leave no trace. I'm thinking through all the sofas I know now, and trying to imagine whether stickers would damage them.

Sorry, I know I am missing the point slightly.

Artandco · 03/08/2015 17:29

How are they stifled being creative having to be creative at the table?

Getthewonderwebout · 03/08/2015 17:33

You really don't mind your home being trashed by a child? Well I guess that's fine. As long as you've taught him to respect other people's homes. I'd lose my shit if someone's child drew on walls, stuck stickers in places other than on paper/sticker book.

cruikshank · 03/08/2015 17:35

I think YAB a bit U, unless the stickers would damage the sofa. Maybe ask yourself why you get him the book. Was it so that he could have a fun time with the stickers, or was it to develop his putting-stickers-in-the-right-place skills and therefore set him up for GCSE stickering, A-Level Sticker Placement or indeed eventual job as Stickering Executive?

cruikshank · 03/08/2015 17:36

I also never allowed drawing on walls. But putting stickers on things other than a page, as long as it causes no damage, is not such a biggie, I think.

meglet · 03/08/2015 17:41

sticker book stickers are for art work or birthday card making. mine never stuck them in the books.

MuddlingMackem · 03/08/2015 17:43

YANBU. DD recently wanted to chuck one of her Usborne sticker books as she'd got it when she was younger and hadn't done it properly, and now she's older it bugs her. The ones she got and did properly she likes to keep. :)

The best compromise are possibly the ones where you have a scene and can add any of the stickers for that page anywhere in the scene. Book used properly but scope for creativity. Nice compromise. Can you tell I'm an Usborne rep who sells a fair few sticker books? LOL!

But if you want to do them properly, get the Sticker Dressing or Dolly Dressing or Historical Dressing ones for yourself.

Original poster

Mrscog · 03/08/2015 17:45

Thanks everyone - I think I've made my peace with an approach now - random sheets of stickers - for paper or possibly sofa if he really must. Nice sticker books - to be done as a joint activity/saved until he's older. This way he gets the best of both worlds!

He did have a majorly fun time with the pva glue in the garden and is now peeling flakes of it off his arms!

OP posts:

TopazRocks · 03/08/2015 17:56

I'd maybe give him a simple explanation as to why not - like 'If you do that you won't have the nice stickers any more' or 'X gave you that lovely book because he/she wanted you to have a nice book of stickers'. Whatever, but not BU as part of parenting is setting parameters, etc.

MrsKoala · 03/08/2015 19:38

Certainly no glue in the garden. We've just had astro turf laid. Fine in the house. He's never do anything creative if he had to sit at a table as he is incapable of sitting still. He eats his dinner on the sofa usually or while running round. All food is allowed everywhere. We have only wood floor and leather furniture here.

drinkscabinet · 03/08/2015 19:48

In all pictures of DS's first Christmas he looks like a low rent Dr Who villian because his big sisters decided to cover his head (even his fontanelle!) with stickers. I'd far rather they'd put them on the sofa (much easier to pull off).

OP YABU but I can see where you are coming from. Get yourself a nice sticker book and play with it to your hearts content to get your sticker book obsession dealt with and let DS do what he wants with his own stickers.

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