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

As a Mum, there are so many times I go the extra mile but I guess the longest has to be when my eldest daughter started school and wanted me to join her primary school's PTA and become involved in all the many events that were held. As I worked full time it was often tiring and difficult to juggle organising events, setting up, sorting out admin at all times of the day and night. My youngest daughter left the same school 2 years ago and I'm still helping out now.....

My son is obsessed with the Titanic and the whole ill fated maiden voyage, so recently bought an old bath, customised it so it had a bridge, 4 funnels and we play saving the Titanic as it hits the pretend iceberg. Kids are strange aren't they. As you can guess the neighbours love me devaluing the house prices with our mock up....could be worse but I can't think how atm

Eating different brands of eggs every week so we can save all the different colored egg boxes for when DD's nursery sends out a request for craft materials. We turned up with boxes every shade of the rainbow last time. The teachers thought we must have been eating loads of eggs but I had just been saving them every single week for the past few months in our tiny 2 bed cottage
We also have about 176528 loo roll tubes for the same reason

i love taking my children on road trips during the summer to say well done for all their hard work over the year, i book activities along the way and we have loads of fun

I once spent over 30 minutes "fondling" bags of Lego Simpsons mini figures in Tesco trying to find the elusive Chief Wiggum figure that my 8 year old needed to complete his collection.

Lego have just released series 2 of the Simpsons mini figures and I am already predicting I will have to do this again but this time for Comic Book Guy!

I ran down a hill as the football rolled quickly towards the river, and without hesitation flung off my trainers and plunged in after it to save the day. I got a round of applause from passers by and saved the game!

My DS is 19 now and has got a part time job working in a nightclub. I get out of bed at about 5 am to pick him up, so that he can carry on working and not spend all of his hard earned cash on a taxi home.

I look after my grandson so my daughter can continue with her university studies, which is a total joy and I don't feel I'm doing anything but supporting her the way I should and well he keeps me on my toes :) and through the years I have gone without so they could each have the latest gadget or piece of clothing but then I feel being a parent these things should all come natural :)

When my daughter was young, she was involved in several sports clubs including swimming and judo and competed nationally in judo. I worked full-time at the time and used to ferry her to and fro, the only night she didn't have any clubs was Tuesday so that was my favourite night of the week. My daughter really enjoyed the clubs and I felt it right that she should not be limited to which clubs she could attend due to us living out in the sticks. My daughter has 3 children of her own now and she is doing the same, though I do a few trips a week too as I know how time consuming it can be.

My DC had her heart set on dressing as Jack Skellington for Halloween and the many parties she was attending. There were no quick ready made costumes available for 3 year olds (apart from ones from the US that were ridiculously expensive!) so I was up in to the early hours every night for a week..heavily pregnant ..researching and creating a homemade version. She was over the moon with it, and has worn it two years in a row! I am gearing up to make a bigger sized one for this year.as well as a Sally costume for her sister as they are planning it already!

Spending all Saturdays on buses, lifts and/or trams. Great fun, I tell you NOT !

Juggling a stressful job, working again after they've gone to bed to keep my career going so I can provide for them

I walked my socks off looking for my daughter's lost teddy that she sleeps with. Went to every shop to retrace my steps, even tweeted a photo of it to see if anyone found it!! Eventually after having no joy, I went to our local supermarket to buy another one as she won't sleep without it!! What a day, I now have 2 teddies just in case........!

Spent about an hour in the local park catching spiders so DD could put them into a plastic box to "observe". Much shrieking (from me).

Painting my daughter's bedroom in our new house to get it done before we moved in, while 5 months pregnant and exhausted.

Worked every extra hour possible this year to take my 2 darling kids on the holiday of a life time ????????????

I remember doing something with my finger when he was extremely constipated as a a baby

Giving up work to stay at home with my boys,I do mis the hustle and bustle of the job at times BUT my boys have given me some much love in return that it was worth it!

I carried my daughter most of the way round a walk round a lake on holiday as she decided she wouldn't go in the buggy but wouldn't walk herself. Added to this I had our new baby in a sling! Weight training for me....

I exclusively expressed breastmilk for 14 months for my Son who couldn't suckle and had problems with his windpipe which meant getting a cold would be traumatic for him. It was so tough but he didn't get poorly once and things sorted themselves out as he grew.

We have taken the kids out further than we would have liked to see the sight and sounds of different cities as they have expressed an interest in things that were going on there so it would involve getting up extra early to prepare a picnic and make sure we have everything we needed for the trip

I once drove from Dover to Salisbury and back again during the night because my DS had forgotten his favourite teddy bear and we were travelling to France the following day!
Maybe some may think this is not necessary but seeing his happy little face the following morning made it all worth while and I often think that you don't get these special times of your children being young for long.

I will never miss a parents event in school - art afternoon, lunch, sports day. No matter what working arrangements I have to make.

Taking my 3 month old son to South Africa to visit my family for 6 months so that:

1. Grandparents could get to know their first grandchild;
2. Hubby could slog to the bone to earn extra money towards house deposit; and
3. I could be supported through the difficulties of parenthood without him feeling guilty.

Missed hubby like crazy - he loved the confidence that developed within me and we still treasure our time together

do not mention world book day or any other dressing up event and small hours of the morning... far too frequent an occurance.

dd is hypermobile and I carried her back from the beach last year when her legs hurt. all 23 kilos... (and I beat their dad back who was carrying a mere 18.5 kilos of ds.) not sure my hypermobile hips liked it though!

we go out in the frost and cold to put out santas landing lights with the children so that they can see his magic snowy footprints all the way up the garden steps and into the house from where he landed at midnight and tromped about the garden. santa finds it very cold out there but leaves footprints so the children will be really excited in the morning.