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?

My DH started 'pillow monster' when my DS1 was about 2, he would make up different characters with different voices... 8 years on and he still has to do pillow monster with him nearly every night and now my DS2 has joined in at the age of 3 I can see it going on until eternity!!!!......DH HATES it!

At that agengoing for a crap is a story so don’t worry about it being interesting from an adult’s perspective. I used to make up stories for my son.....he prefers books however

Take the stories you've already told - the cake, the rambling fairy, the lost cat - and choose one now. Think about what you think was 'wrong' with it, and think of one way it could be made a bit better. Tell her that one tonight.

Do the same tomorrow with one of the others. Then the next day, do the same with the third. Go on like that.

Each time, you can think of something which can make the story 'better'.

Imagination is like anything. You need to do it, practise doing it. You'll get better and better at it. It could even become a family thing, with you each telling each other stories lots!

Whatever story you tell, and whatever way you tell it, your dd will love it because it is spun by you for her especially.

I used to tell my DD stories about a rabbit called by her name, who was very brave. It was a good way to tell (my rather wussy DD) stories about things that frightened/upset/challenged my dd, and how she could could deal with them.

I'm shit at making up stories but one of my fondest childhood memories is being sat on my dad's knee and him telling me a story about us being out walking one day and we met Goldilocks and she came down to our house and had ice cream.

My mam used to tell me stories from her head when I was little ........Ahhh I used to love them. Did it with my son but found it hard. He loved stories where he was the hero and did something amazing or funny. It's good for their imagination though if you just stop every now and again and ask them ' 'who did he see?' or 'where did he go next?' Let them be creative with it and make it up for you (But that's the teacher in me coming out Lol!).
Don't think they mind how bad the stories are, they just like to listen to you and feel close. Enjoy.... They tend not to appreciate it when they're 13 going on 26 lol! 🤔 x

Steal other stories.

Elmer the elephant
Burglar bill
The tale of peter rabbit.

Ha ha I could have written this, every night my 4 year old needs his “made up story” after his real one. It’s been going on for a year now. Am seriously running out of ideas!! He’ll often tell me what they need to be about last night was a lion, a dinosaur and a crocodile. Is so hard!

We do and it’s frequently a very short story about a child that was very tired and went straight to sleep

Once upon a time a man and his family went to take care of the Overlook Hotel for the winter....

Yeah as another poster says I also used to just pretty much make a story up about my daughters day. But some days it was princess [daughters name]. She loved it

"Honey,I'm home"!!!!

LOLOL

My DD used to like hearing the story of 'when mummy went to hospital and came home with a baby' every single night the same story.

I did think of including all the gory details in the hope of never having to tell it again!

Oh, we had the "when dd was born story too-complete with "And Daddy rang Geandma Kath and said "It's a girl!" and Grandma Kath said "That"s lovely! " and dropped the iron and burnt a hole in her new blouse" complete with Yorkshire accent.

We used to do this when my daughter went through a phase of waking up at 5am. She would lay down between us and we would make up a story so we didn’t have to get out of bed. Only problem was we would drift in and out of sleep so it would just be disjointed ramblings, but she seemed to like it anyway.

Thanks so much for all your ideas! I never knew it was such a popular thing. I vaguely remember my sister making up stories for me and loving it but don't remember what they were about.

I definitely don't want to stop doing it, I don't think my dd would stand for me saying it was a daddy thing anyhow!

I love doing this with the kids and they love it...my only mistake was making one of dd2's teddy bears join in to tell part of the story one night, and for some baffling reason that I can't fathom, I made him talk in a drawling southern American accentI have a very strong west of scotland accent. I still have to do it at some point in every story. They seem to enjoy it

Couldn't you just tell her that that is something daddy does and not mummy and have your own thing, like read 2 books, that she has picked instead?

"I'll tell you a story about Jackanory
And now that story's done.
I'll tell you another, about his brother
And now that story's done."

My mum’s story from her head was about a little girl and a local shoe shop. The girl tried on sandals but it started raining. So she tried on wellies and it went sunny. This went on for a while and magic red shoes were involved. I was a tot at the time and now nearly 50, but I got my mum to repeat that story over and over

I used to tell Ds the story of Wynken Blynken and Nod. Except I lost the book at one point so had to make it up a bit. Also The story of the daughter who loved her father more than salt. I also told Ds a story about the cutting through the M3 over Twyford down and all the animals would look out through their windows and had to decide when to cross the road ( I realise it is never going to make me a fortune on Kindle but I did genuinely make that story up - and as that bit of the M3 was on the way to Grandma - it had to be told & retold and embellished)

& actually - a fond memory ( I am mid 50s ) I saw a poster on a window today which read "Bill Stickers will be prosecuted" When I was a tiny tot , my grandfather used to tell me about some "naughty boys" i.e. Bill Stickers and Bill Posters and they were constantly in trouble with the police.

I read my two DC stories at bedtime and their DF made up tales about trains as he is a steam train fanatic. They were in the mode of Thomas the (bloody) Tank Engine (may he rust in hell) and were utterly puerile. The children adored them.

I did not need to explain that reading, singing songs and nursery rhymes were my department and daddy did Stepney the engine stories as they seemed to just get it. However, I did have a rule that while requests might be met, chanted orders and repeated demands would not be and stuck to it.

The OP’s child is a bit young for rational debate. What about trying a few nursery rhymes or a very brief story about the OP’s childhood to wean the toddler off the over prolonged bedtime routine?

Lol at Mr Poo getting flushed to Harrods!

My dad did this. He had a whole series of Fusty the Fox who, looking back, had a lot in common with Fantastic Mr Fox.

Ds loves these. Mine are crap as well. They always include:
A cat
A burglar
Cat thwarting the burglar via slapstick violence. Burglar loses hat/has to hop/falls over.
The end

Yep every night here for several years too.
They used to include animal of son's name playing with the Octonauts or whatever he was watching at the time.
Often he meets Batman or other superheroes. Sometimes I try and squeeze a moral in with Batman telling him how he had to learn not to interrupt/hit/etc to beat the Joker.
Sometimes I include a scenario I know is coming up in real life to kind of prep him for it.
Sometimes they're just daft - going to the ice cream factory to invent an ice cream that makes you far
I'm quite proud of my inventiveness!