Share your tales of going the extra mile for your DC with Mini Milk - you could win a £300 John Lewis voucher NOW CLOSED

[AngelieMumsnet]

At Mini Milk HQ they have been busy reformulating Mini Milk - meaning Mini Milk is a fun treat parents can say yes to! They say "small but perfectly formed, the Mini Milk is a firm favourite within the Wall's range of ice creams. With a choice of three delicious flavours -Vanilla, Strawberry and Chocolate - it's a perfect tasty treat you can feel confident giving to your kids this summer"

They'd love to now hear what you have done to go the extra mile for your kids out of sheer love, to put a smile on their face or - let's face it, to demonstrate your Mother-Superior (or Father-Superior) - parenting skills to the teacher/ other parents . Or even what you let slide so that your DC are happy.

For example: Have you ever found yourself working on a World Book Day costume in the wee small hours of the morning? Or spent days tracking down a toy or piece of clothing you know your child will really, really love? Maybe you've gone slightly OTT on your child's most recent project, or found yourself booking days out just so the class bear can give a good account of his time spent with your family. Have you allowed 'treats' just to make them happy?

If you've gone the extra mile, dug especially deep to pull something amazing out of the bag to be show your self as a great parent, or let your normal standards slip just to make them happy, we want your stories here!

Add your comment to this thread and you'll be entered into a prize draw where on MNer will win a £300 John Lewis voucher.

Please note Mini Milk / Mumsnet may use your comments - anon of course - on their pages on MN, on social media or possibly elsewhere - please only post if you're happy with this. Standard Insight T&Cs apply.

Thanks and good luck
MNHQ

Since my daughter split with her partner I look after her children most nights as she works constant nightshift and can't afford to give it up. Her ex does take his turn but he works shifts and can't always be there before she leaves for work. I do love them though and it isn't a chore just a delight as I get to spend loads of time with them I normally wouldn't.

dressing up as super heroes together and going out for the day to cheer her up when she was feeling sad that her friend had left her school and moved away.

Going swimming with my eight week old daughter and after I had lost fourteen and a half stones! I was so afraid of being judged for my bingo-wings/venetian blind thighs and wobby bum. Some of my earliest memories of my parents is when they used to take us swimming and I want my daughter to have the same experience so I swallowed my pride and went for it for my daughter!

I spent 6 years taking my son to swim training/competitions etc early morning's from 430 am til late at night. all over the country. Would do it again if he wanted me to.

I have given up my birthdays, Mothers day & Valentines day for years for my son. He swims for the city & trains 5 days a week, then competes most weekends, so all our spare time is spent at the pool. The biggest competition of the year is always on Mothers day (I'm guessing a man came up with that idea!!)

I spent hours cutting out little squares of different coloured fabric and sticking them (using WonderWeb) onto an old top and trousers to make an Elmer The Elephant outfit for DS2 to wear on World Book Day. I even cut out a mask from card, drew squares on it and coloured them all in in different colours. He did win 'best outfit' though :D

Entered the mums race at school sports day 4 days after giving birth, leaky boobs and sutures did not stop me coming 3rd

Home educating my two daughters for 3 years each from 11 to 14.

My son is my first and is only 1 years old. He doesn't demand much off me other than my attention and smiles currently but I'm trying to go the extra mile right now by changing my diet and by exercising because I didn't grow up seeing healthy living as normal and I struggle now with my attitudes towards being healthy and losing weight. I want my son to see me exercise and to eat well and to think that is the norm.
This is even if he ends up slim and unable to put on weight like his dad because I want to make his life better and easier.

to be honest this is really difficult for me somedays but the thing that motivates me most is not my own weight loss but that I'm doing it for him.

I have spent the whole day today walking around Peppa Pig world. I have the annoying music stuck in my head and my entire body aches but seeing the look in my 2 year olds face when he saw Peppa and George was amazing.

Ds was finally persuaded to potty train with the bribe of a scooter. He really wanted a red one like Po the Teletubby and Spot the Dog. Only to find that Micro and every other manufacturer didn't sell red ones that year. EBay didn't help.

Then I thought Micro scooters were made in Germany so scraped up my rusty German, searched the internet, and found someone with a red one and negotiated shipping to the UK.

Four years on, he's still delighted that he had a red scooter when no-one else could get one.

Spending hours at midnight explaining multiplication because he was having nightmares about it also sticks in the mind.

going on rollercoasters at theme parks, even though I really hate them, so she didn't have to go on them on her own

For me I always go the extra mile on birthday cakes, I enjoy the reaction of family and friends as well as my children when they see whatever it is they are into at the current time!

We moved for our son who is Autistic he was so unhappy where he was, we loved our home but we did it to make him happy and not a day goes by that I regret the move xx

I like to do competitions for childrens toys and things like that, when something unexpectedly turns up in the post for my son he loves it and it makes him smile and so in turn it makes me feel good.

Spending way too long on my daughter's easter bonnet, it took days, but looked amazing and she won!!! so was worth it, for my superglued hands!

I've been making wigwams

When I took my niece to disneyland paris, I arranged with my sister (her mum) to not tell her. I just picked her up, took her on the train and just went. The reaction on her face when she realise where we were heading was priceless and thinking back on it still brings me tears. I filmed it on my then mobile, which has sadly since been lost. I am most upset about losing the footage more than anything else. :(

My little lad and me were eating an apple and he said how he would love an apple tree. We collected the seeds and planted them out in the garden and I told him if he watered them everyday they would grow into an apple tree. He went out to water his seeds one morning and was overcome with excitement to discover an apple tree where he'd sewn and watered his seeds.
I secretely went out and bought one and planted it one night when he was asleep..Its not going the extra mile,,Its just what you do to make them happy.

DS absolutely loves weathervanes. I was knitting him and his brother some winter hats and I asked them both what style they liked (intending them to say what colour and whether they wanted a bobble or earflaps or not). He asked for a weathervane hat. It took a bit of designing - the arrow on top had to actually spin round - but it was worth it, he loves it.

Somehow lost a favourite toy of my daughter's whilst staying at my mum's. Drove a 100 mile round trip to replace said toy. Incurred an £80 parking fine into the bargain for overstaying in the car park because we decided to be healthy and walk to the adjacent ikea, rather than drive to it. "Sid Stripes" (name of toy) has got a lot to answer for

My daughters' best friend had just been given a particular model of Sylvanian families Georgian Mansion for her birthday and my daughter loved it. It was near Christmas and of course the letter to Santa contained the wished for mansion. We asked where they obtained the mansion and found out it was from Selfridges in London.
I phoned Selfirdges only to be told that it was a trial model for which they had only had six and they were all sold. They did not expect to get any more until after Christmas. We were gobsmacked as my daughters belief in Father Christmas was at stake so I spent several days phoning what seemed like every toy shop in the country including the distributors. They all said the Selfridges stock was the only one in the country. Someone mentioned that Harrods could get anything from anywhere so I tried them. They hadn't heard of the particular toy but said they would try to find one.
I had given up hope and it was getting near christmas and then I received a phone call from Harrods toy department to say they had found one in Japan and had it in stock waiting for me. Well as you can imagine Santa came again that Christmas and my daughters faith was renewed. She didn't notice that the packaging had Japanese writing on it. To see her face was worth all the effort.

It has to be when we were potty training our DS. I was waiting at the bus stop with him to go to an appointment at the Hospital, when he declared he needed a poo..I had to wrap 'it' up in a tissue and carry it in my handbag for the whole bus journey.

On holiday in Cornwall/Devon we visited a open farm and they had lots of the usual animals on show, rabbits, pigs, cows, etc but they also had some snakes, spiders & rats which she adores. She held them all, and asked if she could have some pet rats. So I managed to overcome my dislike of rats to get my daughter some for her birthday. Turns out they are very clean, gentle pets and it made her so happy.