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Preteens

Parenting a preteen can be a minefield. Find support here.

Original poster

Help! I hid my daughter's switch and now I'm in trouble!

344 replies

supercalifragilicious · 26/10/2021 22:32

So the story goes like this:
My pre-teen daughter was being naughty, didn't do as she was told (nicely), chatted back in a super-cheeky way, rolled her eyes, lied and then didn't do as she was told again. So I got very cross and took her Switch... And hid it somewhere in the house, told her she will get it back when her behaviour improves.
Fast forward a few weeks... I cannot find the bloody thing... I took apart the whole house... left no thing unturned. It's just gone. It's so strange. I usually remember where I put things. This time, it's like I have a black hole, it's like someone erased the memory of me hiding it. It's like I have an amnesia to this specific moment in time when I was hiding it. I know I hid it but I don't know where.
Since it was also my husband's Switch I am now having to buy him a new one... If I can't find it (deadline set to a week).

Any ideas of how to retrieve this memory please? Any strategies for finding lost subjects? I don't want to buy a new one, it's expensive! Sad

OP posts:
MydogWilloTheWispEvilEdna · 27/10/2021 08:47

@ApplesAreTheBaneOfMyLife

My hiding places include:

On top of kitchen cupboards
Secret compartment in the car
With Christmas decorations
Spirits cupboard
Inside jam pan
In their bedroom (quite proud of this one!)

Like your style ref bedroom Smile
Zilla1 · 27/10/2021 08:48

Don't accept your DH setting a deadline. Tell him unless he does more around the house, spends more time with the DC and so on and demonstrates this for an uncertain number of weeks then his (and your DC's) toy will remain confiscated (until you find it).

Cattitudes · 27/10/2021 08:49

Maybe he's after an upgrade to the new one

Don't agree to buy the new one. Like for like. He can contribute the extra if it comes to it.

BoredZelda · 27/10/2021 08:49

Is it a toy? Why would your husband need it?

Grown ups can play games too. You should try it some time, it's fun!

Capricornandproud · 27/10/2021 08:51

They’re really ‘slidey’ with any protective case. Where do you store hidey stuff and presents? At the cost of them I’d be pulling furniture out like wardrobes! Its also slim and discreet enough to slide between things in a drawer or bookcase.

I’d get a friend over to look with fresh eyes.

Iwab82 · 27/10/2021 08:51

Pocket of coat or dressing gown you don't use regularly?

seventyfits · 27/10/2021 08:54

Definitely agree with the suggestion re your dc finding it and re-hiding. This has happened more than once with dcs I know (my own and others). I'd try and think from your dc's pov - look in the back of her drawers, wardrobe, under her bed, school bag, etc. Don't underestimate how sneaky dcs can be if the rewards are high enough.

But, having said that, I recently found a box of chocs I'd hidden on top of a kitchen cupboard months ago and forgotten about.

minisoksmakehardwork · 27/10/2021 09:02

I'd assume either DH or dd has already found it.

When I can't find things and believe someone else has already got to them, I'll tell everyone I found it but (if it's something they want), they won't get it back until X has happened - usually the kids tidying their room. It's amazing how quickly that thing mysteriously turns up in a really obvious place.

diddl · 27/10/2021 09:02

Bag/rucksack that you don't use often?

Airing cupboard?

Piano stool?

SchadenfreudePersonified · 27/10/2021 09:03

Your DD has found it. SHe's hidden it in a place only known to her (probably keeps it about her person) and is secretly and smugly using it.

user1471538283 · 27/10/2021 09:07

I've done this. You were distracted and upset and your brain switched off.

Try to calm down, sit down and have a cup of tea. Try not to think about where it might be. Then methodically go through things. It is there!

I wouldn't buy another one - because the old one will then turn up!

amsadandconfused · 27/10/2021 09:09

@SolasAnla

Have you checked the pre-teens hiding places too??
My immediate thought!
Newmum110 · 27/10/2021 09:11

Look in places you have already looked, a few times I have found things where I have already looked. Makes me feel like I'm losing my mind but happy with the result!!!!

Blurp · 27/10/2021 09:11

@minisoksmakehardwork

I'd assume either DH or dd has already found it.

When I can't find things and believe someone else has already got to them, I'll tell everyone I found it but (if it's something they want), they won't get it back until X has happened - usually the kids tidying their room. It's amazing how quickly that thing mysteriously turns up in a really obvious place.

This is genius!
godmum56 · 27/10/2021 09:11

@SpindelWhorl

I'd guess your DD and/or DH found it a few weeks ago and have better hiding places than you.
I thought this too Grin
AwaAnBileYerHeid · 27/10/2021 09:13

And if you still can't find it then I wouldn't be replacing it. If it wasn't for her behaviour in the first place then it wouldn't have been confiscated and subsequently lost.

GetOffTheTableMabel · 27/10/2021 09:15

@supercalifragilicious

I literally took apart the whole house. There are only two explanations:
  1. It is not in the house (for whatever reason)
  2. I don't see it when I look at it.

Which one is more likely?? Maybe I am going crazy.

My DDs have these zip-around cases that their switches live in. Does yours? If so are you picturing it without the case when it is actually inside it or vice-versa?
Ijustreallywantacat · 27/10/2021 09:20

m.youtube.com/watch?v=DY-Zdgo0OXo
It's not just for books!

Shiloh139 · 27/10/2021 09:22

I'd say option 3 as you say you literally took apart the whole post about 40 minutes after starting this thread asking for advice on how to find the switch. There's surely no way you can have thoroughly searched every room in the house in that time so i'd say go back and do it again but more thoroughly, checking even the most unlikely places that you KNOW a Switch could never be, as that's probably exactly where it is. Certainly from my own experience of losing things like this, the item is found somewhere where I just didn't think to look as it was hiding almost in plain sight or was just so unlikely that it barely seemed worth checking. Also, get DH and DD to look with you. DH is a much better finder of things than me, I sometimes can't see things I'm searching for right in front of me.

Busybee5000 · 27/10/2021 09:23

Bedside cabinet
Car boot
Bottom of a wardrobe

Jux · 27/10/2021 09:23

Go sit or stand where you were when you were telling dd off, close your eyes and imagine in as great a detail as you can the moment you took the Switch and follow yourself through whatever happened next.

zaffa · 27/10/2021 09:26

[quote Phepho]@zaffa in a pillow case? Definitely something thin and a bit loose, baggy. All wrapped up in it[/quote]
So she swaddles him up in a Muslin so that actually makes sense! But do you have any idea where that muslin may be? 😬

EmpressSuiko · 27/10/2021 09:28

Do you have any shoe boxes you could have put it in? That’s where I hide my sons when he is naughty!
Hidden at the bottom of a draw? Inside a unused bag in a draw of cupboard? Underneath a bed? Filing cabinet? On top of a kitchen cupboard? Behind books on a bookshelf? There must be somewhere you aren’t looking, have you checked your Dds room?

PaperDreamsHoney · 27/10/2021 09:30

Any chance you hid it in the car?

SirensofTitan · 27/10/2021 09:33

Just keep looking, you 'll find it. I'm sure there is a name for this butI can't tell you the number of times I've looked for something and then found it in a place I know I've aleady looked.

I don't know if the brain somehow doesn't register it the first time then you somehow see it the next time

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