To wish dh had never invented "story from your head"

[pilkers]

Dd is 2.5, a while back she went through a phase of playing up at bedtime and to settle her dh would go back in and tell her a "story from his head", she loved this for some reason and now it's become part of her bedtime routine, oh AND she wants one for her nap. I'm totally shit at them and start panicking when I'm reading her book cos I know "story from my head" is coming up. What will it be this time? Another classic about finding a lost cat and taking it back to its owner? That crap one about the fairies that rambled on too long? That frankly shit one about baking a cake?

Agh. I love reading her bedtime story but I long for the day I put her in her cot and she doesn't ask me sweetly for "story from your head now?".

Is this a tradition in anyone else's household? Do you struggle for inspiration or am I just an unimaginative old bag?

AIBU to wish dh had never started the whole bloody tradition?

“daddy does story from your head, mummy reads books”

DS had an imaginary friend, George.
We used to do all kinds of adventures with George.
He was very small and regularly sat on my shoulder.
When he was naughty I would eat him, he would then climb out through my nose!

Ah the memories. We used to do this too and it did prove a bit taxing sometimes. Then I turned the tradition into me singing a quick song instead - twinkle twinkle or something I knew. Much less pressure.

My husband does a story using teddies. Sometimes when I'm asked to perform a "bunny" story,literally all I can think of is.... there once lived a bunny.....the end! I'm notoriously shit at doing anything imaginative,role play etc so they don't bother asking me anymore!

Oh god yes, only now it's escalated. DD wants a story involving Peter Rabbit, Twighlight Sparkle and Princess Poppy.

That said, a friend of mine has a dd that likes her to sing fairy tales to her so it could be worse.

Naughty amelia jane!

We have story in the dark after bedtime stories. It’s a recap of what they did that day or a recap of a special holiday etc. Perfect for someone like me with no imagination. It also means I often get more detail of what happened at nursery/school volunteered as they fill in my gaps in knowledge of the day.

We have this. I literally cannot be make up stories. Just can't do it. So I sing in the dark as an option! My dh offers stories from his primary school days. This is easier to do and they are desperate for them...dh was quite naughty at primary so lots of now frowned on 1980s punishments and tales of playing out etc. They love it!!

My DH does this too! I read a regular book and just change the names/places instead.

I fell into this trap when I was an au pair. I not only had to make up stories out of my head, I had to do it in French.

She asks you to tell them so she must like them!

My child isn't old enough for this yet BUT I remember being a kid and asking my dad for stories from his head! Best fun! Hahaha

My grampy always used to tell me a story from his head. One of my absolute favourite memories of him

My DS used to demand these stories...his all had to somewhere include Ben 10!!😳

Daddy tells stories. Mummy reads books, now which one would you like?

...on repeat.

Yep. Same here. My eldest son as a toddler (and still does) loved rockets. One day, I made a story up about a red rocket, and basically how It came to our house and my son drove it to the moon and had an adventure. That day, was three years ago. Every night since we’ve had to tell the story of the red rocket. Every.fucking.night.

This rocket has been to a funfair on the moon, to the swimming baths on mars, to buy shoes in the milky way.

You might as well all shut up now because we (or rather DH) will win this one.

DS has been having at least two made up stories a night for four years. He has an incredibly good memory for them, so we can't recycle them. They all have to be about him. They have to be internally consistent, realistic, scientifically correct, but also must contain at least one magical, supernatural or superhuman element. He knows when he's being short-changed. He has recently implemented a mini author's question and answer session after each story ('So where exactly were these mountains?' Where in the North?'

I'm utterly shit at this, so DH usually does bedtime.

Yes, he is our PFB and an only. Yes, we started it in the hope of giving him some magical, twinkly childhood memories.

Just find a book of old fables or fairy tales and substitute yourself as the main character in them.

Mine used to want this, early on I asked them for an idea and they came up with 'the worm with the purple bottom' so we had a whole month or so of the tales of this bloody worm.

I did have a character in stories my son used to ask for called Mr Poo who was a poo who had lots of adventures when he got flushed to different places. Once he got flushed to the Christmas decorations department of Harrods. That was a favourite.

Thanks all I'm feeling comforted that this is such a popular trend

My grandfather was excellent at telling these stories from his head. I remember a couple of them from my childhood and have tried retelling them to my dc but I am crap at story telling and they just don’t sound the same. Stories from a book every time!

Mr poo! Purple bottomed worms! Drunk princesses! Oh I'm loving all of these, they're much more exciting than mine!

My grandma used to do this with me. My fondest memories of her. I agree the content isn't actually that important, it was the undivided attention and cuddles that came with it

My son is 10 and still loves this. I think mine are reaallluyy crap and unimaginative, but he loves them.