Do you have a funny tale of household horror? What terrible things have your DCs done to your home when your back was turned? Tell Valspar and you could win a £300 Love2Shop voucher!- NOW CLOSED

[AngelieMumsnet]

Have you ever turned your back for what seemed like seconds only to return to a pencil/crayon ‘work of art’ on your newly painted walls? Has there ever been an ‘incident’ involving a TV and a football? Have your children ever wreaked havoc with an unguarded tin of paint? If so, Valspar wants to know.

Valspar say "With great durability, Valspar Paint can withstand even the toughest parts of daily living and maintain its colour (even hundreds of scrubs!). So if those tiny, mucky hands and colouring crayons go astray – fear not. We have made sure you can scrub away the mess without the worry of taking a layer of paint off too – just in case your little one does decide to release their inner Picasso on your living room walls."

So, what are the most awful, or funniest, things that your children have done to your house while your back was turned? Whether the crime was big or small, Valspar would love to hear your stories.

Everyone who adds a comment to this thread will be entered into a prize draw where one winner will receive a £300 Love2Shop voucher.

Thanks and good luck,
MNHQ

Standard Insight T&Cs apply

DC1 and 5 flooded our bathroom. They were about 10 and 5 at the time and DC2 came running down the stairs saying something about the water in the bathroom, I thought she meant they had spilled some so told her to tell DC1 to clean it up. Until about 10 minutes later when we heard the distinctive pat pat pat of water hitting the floor in the downstairs hallway.

They had put too much paper in the toilet and yes it was flooding, all over the place, we cleaned up and dried but eventually had to change the flooring as it left a smell we couldn't get rid of

I was putting the baby down for a nap in her room and heard a loud repeated bang from the living room. I ran back in to find DS (2) trying to "fix" the TV with a toy wooden hammer and he had smashed the screen!

I was busy in the kitchen cooking lunch, when DD2 ran in, covered in sudocrem. At that exact moment, the phone rang and the toast started to burn. I told her to stay right where she was, but while I switched off the gas under the cheese sauce and cancelled the toaster, she made a run for it. Within seconds she'd trampled sudocrem right through the hallway into the living room, all over the carpet.

Moved house and spent ages fixing all the broken things and getting the kids bedrooms sorted. The only room that wasn't a disaster was the hall.

Then about 3 months in on the lovely wooden door I spotted ds's signature graffiti of a head with arms coming out the side and about 50 fingers. Sort of head/spider. He swore blind it wasn't him but the word "TED" carved underneath did rather give it away.

I made the little bugger scrub it off while he complained bitterly about slavery and child exploitation. He was 6.

Dd2 draws on herself or the walls the moment she finds a pen. All pens are now kept high up and I had to touch up all the paint work in half term, not for the first time!

DS2 has broken every single lock in our house.

My dd has just started enjoying felt tip pens. I took my eye off her for a second and then saw she'd coloured in most of her high chair!

My now 17yr old Ds when he was 3 saw then iron unattended on the landing at the top of the stairs and turned on and ironed my brand new carpet. He left some lovely melted wool iron shaped prints then came and told me about his 'monster tracks' I cried.
Since then i have been careful hiding the iron away.

Vaseline is a nightmare to clean off walls, carpet and soft furniture.

DS when smaller was in the living room while i was stood in the kitchen folding washing, he was literally left for 5 mins and I kept popping my head in. Later that day after we had lunch I went into the reception room to find the fish tank had been completely covered in black marker pen! I then went back into the living room in a state of panic to find the DVD player, TV unit and the side of the sofa also covered in his doodlings. Tbh I love seeing the creative side of my DC but to this day I always wonder how he managed to get the marker, do his thing and put it back in the exact place that I left it on my desk. How he managed to get the lid off was the biggest mystery of all.

I shall save the one about the smoldering nappy on my lamp for another day.

Please note my DS was not a neglected child!!

My DS1 had his moments! When he was just 2 yo, shortly after DS2 was born and on the day of the first Health Visitor home visit after giving birth I was so pleased with myself as I had them both up, fed, dressed and the house was tidy. I went into the kitchen briefly and returned to the living room to discover that DS1 had got a screwdriver from his dad's toolbox and levered the lid off the tin of paint that was sitting on the table ready for me to continue decorating (we moved house when DS2 was a week old and it needed it!!) He'd the. Proceeded to paint the carpet (new), suite (new), himself and the poor cat! I didn't know what to do and went into a panic. I rang my mum at work and she says I just garbled in a high pitched tone for a minute or two! Then the Health Visitor turned up and ended up helping me wash and blow dry the cat. Not sure that was part of her job description!!

When he was 18 months old, DS1 also got hold of screwdriver and unscrewed the backs of my dining chairs. I only popped to the loo!!

After all that his dad was told to keep his flaming tools in his car!!

DC 1 and 2 didn't do anything. DC3 has smeared handcream everywhere, spilled strawberry milk everywhere and is an avid wall artist!! She loves to draw on anything. The walls, the bed, the windowsills, herself. Luckily this is happening less as she is getting older (she's now 2.5).

I have also just remembered the whole box of washing powder on the living room floor, the weetabix in the vhs recorder (DS1 is now 18), the Sudocreme Ghost and the money in the cat flap incidents. I promise he wasn't left alone for long!!

Oh, and I forgot about when she bashed the tv screen several times on separate occasions causing large black streaks of 'dead' pixels. Had to get a new one, along with a taller table to put it on

unsealed wooden floor, my friends 'potty trained' toddler...

We were living with PiL for a few weeks between selling the old house and buying the new house. DTDs were just turned 2 YO and shared the small bedroom.

On our last night staying with PiL, we put DDs to bed as normal (snuggled in their cosy baby sleeping bags) and closed the door. We were busy packing up suitcases etc so ignored the giggling and rattling noises for a long time while.

When I went to check on DDs, I discovered the cause of the merriment. They had found a loose corner of wallpaper and began by ripping strips of this off, through the bars of their cots. When they'd pulled off all the paper within reach of the cots, they turned their attention to the polystyrene tiles underneath and clawed out huge chunks, shredded these into constituent little white balls, which they were happily flinging around at each other.

The overall effect, when I opened the bedroom door, was of hyperactive penguins in an Antarctic blizzard ❄️. Two walls stripped almost bare of paper and tiles to a height of 3 feet or so

Thank God we've never had anything terrible happen. But DD has a love of writing in steamed up windows and mirrors. We often don't discover these messages straight away.

Her most recent was 'Daddy is big and bad'.

Can be a conversation opener when we've got guests!

My two children aged 3 and 5 at the time thought it'd be a great idea to smear the contents of the economy sized pot of Vaseline over themselves and the immediate surrounding area whilst I was occupied with lunch. It honestly took near to a full bottle of shampoo to just remove the grease from their heads - just their heads! It was madness. Funny but mad.

Another one here for writing on the wall. DS2 encouraged DS3 to practise his letter G on their bedroom wall. DS2 did it in pencil, DS3 in biro. I should have been proud - it was a great G. Unfortunately it is still there!

Although the funniest one was when we heard DS1 (about 18 months at the time) crying from his bedroom. DH went upstairs and cried out in horror. I dashed up wondering what on earth had happened only to discover the room covered in talcum powder. DS1 had been making it 'snow' in his room and was crying because the snow had run out! It was me crying later when I got an electric shock off the hoover - lots of talc and hoovers don't go well together.

Eeesh DS seems to have spent most of his little life causing chaos in my house!

Couple of pics to demonstrate!
My spare room. DS found some craft paint and enjoyed squeezing it out. Still, it was well coordinated. He also held on to the banisters and walls afterwards as he came down 2 flights of stairs to wash his hands. Instead of the bathroom next door.

He's 9 now, and only the other day I noticed that, bizarrely, he'd written 'plain white sheet' on his (plain white) sheet

Good job he's so lovely otherwise!

My dd got through a giant tub of sudocreme covering herself, the poor cat, our red fabric sofa and bpack carpet.... Arghhhhhhhg

My daughter is nearly 2 years older than her little brother and I once came in to find she's got my makeup bag out of my handbag and decorated his face with makeup while he quietly sat in his bouncer chair. He never said a word bless him and she denied all knowledge of it until I saw her hands were covered in lipstick as was the sofa!

Not DCs, but our dog once chewed through a wall

While talking to the roofer my two year old took the opportunity to grab a tub of cream cheese off the table and 'paint' the couch with it. I nearly cried!

Not my child but my brother went through a stage where he wrote his name on everything as then it belonged to him. This varied from toys to furniture to walls. DM told him off and he denied doing it until she pointed out it was his name on everything so it must be him.

Fast forward to a few weeks later when my older brother's name starts to appear on everything in my younger brother's handwriting. Younger brother was very aggrieved to be blamed again as this time it wasn't his name.