Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
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:
SunshineCake1 · 27/10/2021 10:17

Fuck the deadline. Keep looking. Why does he get to dictate. Bloody hell.

Phepho · 27/10/2021 10:20

@zaffa it's high up, too high. Someone else bundled it up with something else and 'put it away'

Redsquirrel5 · 27/10/2021 10:23

I. Put my grandmother’s and mum’s engagement rings somewhere else as DH had left unknown BTman in my bedroom and rings were out. I felt uneasy and removed them when I came home but couldn’t put in usual place as he was there. I felt awful not trusting him but had heard stories recently on Tv. Still haven’t found them 8 years later.

Op I feel your pain. Hope you find it.

KateTheEighth · 27/10/2021 10:24

@IdaNoh

Theyr'e conspiring against you. DH found the switch, told DD and they agreed to keep it secret from you, blackmail you into buying a second switch so they will have one each instead of having to share

I agree!

At the very least your DD has it

mushroom3 · 27/10/2021 10:26

Pockets of jackets or other clothing you may have worn at the time. My son lost his Nintendo DS for a year as he had put it in the pocket of a summer jacket. It was only the next summer when I was bagging up outgrown clothes for the charity shop that I found it!

amsadandconfused · 27/10/2021 10:27

Either daughter has it ,it’s been thrown away accidentally or in car. TBH I am a lot older than you and my memory is absolutely rubbish but I would vaguely (even if it takes a day or so ) have some idea where I am most likely to hide something! This makes me think it’s already been found 😳

ComeTheFuck0nBridget · 27/10/2021 10:27

@Phepho do you know where my Opal necklace is?

WhiskyXray · 27/10/2021 10:31

@BoredZelda

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!

Lol, I love games (particularly of the board variety). I just didn't know a switch was a computer game- I was thinking horse whip, riding crop type switch! Pardon my ignorance.

I tend to agree with the posters saying the OP may be being gaslighted by either or both of them. If it's the pair of them in cahoots... woe betide them when OP finds out.

DahliaMacNamara · 27/10/2021 10:32

If you have a car, could you have put it in there somewhere? A slim item could easily slip between or under a seat.
For completely vanished items, I reach out to the house and ask out loud for them to be returned. Sounds a bit woo, now I see it written down, but I think it triggers something in my brain that eventually leads me to the thing I'm looking for.

Beautiful3 · 27/10/2021 10:34

I would pick up something similarly sized and try to hide it from the kids. It's likely to be where you've hidden the switch. I wouldn't buy another one yet.

Sonex · 27/10/2021 10:35

Under a pillow. I'm trying to think of all the places I've put tablets/switches/controllers.

My normal place is in a beachbag which is hung on the Bannister's, in the shelf of my bedside table, in a drawer, on a high shelf, in the glove compartment of the car, in a laundry basket under washing/ironing ......

mumwon · 27/10/2021 10:40

the best way to find something is to look for something else!
Seriously shut your eyes & think back to what happened before you took it & go step by step into what you did & did you get distracted by phone call or door bell
& second check your dd room etc

SoItWas · 27/10/2021 10:40

My passport disappeared, when I really needed it. I tore the house apart, and found so much crap I'd been looking for, for years, but still no damn passport. It must still be here somewhere Confused.

I feel your pain op, it's frustrating when this happens. You hid it too well...

UltimateBugKilla · 27/10/2021 10:44

A switch is small, check between towels, under a mattress, in the washing pile or under.
Recreate the conversation with your daughter, where is happened and then look in the nearest places.
Books.. Do you have books in the house? Under magazines?

My go to place was ontop of the fridge, or in my knicker drawer 😂

SoItWas · 27/10/2021 10:46

Also, I once hid a toy of my sisters, in the little shelf space at the back of the grandfather clock. I found it two years later Blush, she'd been blamed on loosing it, I'd totally forgotten I'd hidden it, until I found it again.

I agree with try to remember what happened that day, can you remember having it in your hand, what room where you in, etc. Or imagine you're going to hide a switch, where seems a likely place.

rainbowstardrops · 27/10/2021 10:52

Sorry to derail a bit but I can't remember the PP who said she could 'see things'.

Could you tell me what I did with my mum's set of darts that I put somewhere really safe a good few years back please?!
My mum had already died but my dad gave them to my DS and dad has just died recently too and I'd really love to find that incredibly safe place where they are!

Yourstupidityexhaustsme · 27/10/2021 10:55

I'd put money on the fact the blighter has found it and hidden it. Check her room/hiding places - especially down the side of her bed/under the mattress!

If not check the top of the kitchen cupboards - I'm always hiding things up there and forgetting!

StormTreader · 27/10/2021 11:01

Presumably you were angry when you decided to hide it, an emotion like that can help you recall the event.

Try and think back to how you felt, what you said, feel it in your hand as you grabbed it, try and live in that emotional place, and then....did you angrily stomp up/down stairs? Did you have time to mutter a lot of curses etc before you hid it (which would mean its quite far from where you picked it up)? Did you angrily shove something soft out of the way to hide it behind/beneath that could be clothes? Did you slam a door?

We usually remember more about the emotions and physical feel of events like this than we expect to, its not always about what you can remember seeing.

kwiksavenofrillsusername · 27/10/2021 11:05

Actually, another idea. If you have your Nintendo login you can set parental controls via the app: www.nintendo.com/switch/parental-controls/

If your DD has hidden it, you can spoil her fun by setting the play limits really low, making it useless.

Original poster
supercalifragilicious · 27/10/2021 11:05

UPDATE !!!

                                       I HAVE FOUND IT!!!!!!!!

Thank you so much all you wonderful Mumsnetters!!!

I think simply talking about it here and reading your suggestions must have set something off in my brain. On complete autopilot, without thinking much, I went to the chest of drawers and opened the drawer where I keep my underwear. I use those canvas Ikea boxes to subdivide the space for knickers, bras, etc... The Switch wasn't in the canvas boxes, it was UNDER one of them. As some of you said, it is quite flat to easily fitted there without being found and both me and my husband checked there many, many times but didn't think to lift the box.

HURRAAHHHHH! Thank you Mumsnet!!!

OP posts:
Rainbowunicorn76 · 27/10/2021 11:07

@supercalifragilicious

UPDATE !!! 
                                       I HAVE FOUND IT!!!!!!!!

Thank you so much all you wonderful Mumsnetters!!!

I think simply talking about it here and reading your suggestions must have set something off in my brain. On complete autopilot, without thinking much, I went to the chest of drawers and opened the drawer where I keep my underwear. I use those canvas Ikea boxes to subdivide the space for knickers, bras, etc... The Switch wasn't in the canvas boxes, it was UNDER one of them. As some of you said, it is quite flat to easily fitted there without being found and both me and my husband checked there many, many times but didn't think to lift the box.

HURRAAHHHHH! Thank you Mumsnet!!!

Hooray! Love this update.
Snoopsnoggysnog · 27/10/2021 11:07

Amazing!!! Well done OP. I have those IKEA boxes for underwear and I hide stuff there too Blush

MydogWilloTheWispEvilEdna · 27/10/2021 11:10

@Phepho

It WAS a cube!!!!

MydogWilloTheWispEvilEdna · 27/10/2021 11:12

Those dividers are visually a cut out box. @Phepho is a genius

MydogWilloTheWispEvilEdna · 27/10/2021 11:12

Well done @supercalifragilicious Smile