Share the biggest messes your children have made in the 5 minutes when your back was turned - £300 voucher to be won!

[EllieMumsnet]

Perhaps you have a child with the potential to be a future 'Banksy' - an artist able to cover a wall in felt-tip graffiti, while you are busy chopping carrot sticks. Or maybe they're more of a Jackson Pollock character - suddenly spraying the entire contents of their bowl across the floor in homage to the painter's splatter artworks? We’ve all been there when unbelievable messes have occurred in the blink of an eye and Carex would love to hear your stories about the biggest messes your children have made.

Here’s what Carex has to say: “Here at Carex we’re all about living life hands on… and sometimes that means getting messy! Luckily we’re here to clean, care and protect with our range of antibacterial hand washes. To keep the family busy this summer you can currently enjoy half price entry to Alton Towers and Sea Life centres with every promotional pack of Carex.”

Did you leave the room for five short minutes only to come back and find they'd somehow got at your prized Chanel lipstick and had liberally applied it not only to their lips, but their cheeks, eyes, hands and hair? What madness made you leave them unsupervised?! Share the unfortunate stories of the times you turned your back and a mess ensued.

Everyone who posts on the thread will be entered into a prize draw to win a £300 voucher of their choice (from a list).

Thanks and good luck
MNHQ

Standard Insight T&Cs apply

When DS was three he was very trustworthy with pens etc. - he never drew on anything he shouldn't. He came into the kitchen one lunchtime and said he needed a black marker - I gave him one and carried on cooking lunch. A short time later he came in and announced, "Look, Mummy, Batman." His face, arms and legs were beautifully coloured in with black permanent marker. It took ages for it to finally wash off but I chatted to a lot of new people in Sainsbury's that week as it amused so many people.

DD was obsessed with bubbles - not bubbles to blow but bubbles whipped up with washing up liquid/washing powder in a basin. I used to let her have a basin full and she would happily play with them and a variety of boxes/cups/spoons etc. One day on coming back in after going to the loo I found that she had decided to clean the draining board, the work surfaces, the doors, etc. with the bubbles. After I had wiped it all up I had to admit to her that she had done a good job.

The slime that DD7 and friends made. I said making slime was fine as long as it was outside, but it was not allowed upstairs on the new carpet in DD bedroom...which is where i found it half an hour later all over the carpet.

I wasn't very impressed and slime has since been banned.

Just the other day dd4 coloured all over herself and ds1 with red felt tip... fresh out of the bath, so they were both naked. Her coverage was rather impressive, if difficult to scrub off....

Sudocrem as well, all over himself, his floor, armchair, rug, walls etc. The smell lasted for ages.
Having read how many other people have experienced similar I think they need better lids on the pots!

Weetabix and milk spread all over the floor and under the table. Stuck like glue in this heat!

So much to choose from.

There was the time DC1 drew red spots all over her and toddler DC2's face as they were pretending to have chickenpox.

Then there was the time DC1 shredded bits of cotton wool and scattered it all over DC2's bedroom pretending it was snow.

Then there was the time both DC broke down the polystyrene packaging from the new tumble dryer into its individual beads and scattered them all over the kitchen and themselves.

And those are just the ones that spring to mind.

In the five minutes I was out of the room, DD managed to do a poo, un-do her nappy for the first time, then play with said poo, resulting in very stinky cot/bedding/mattress/teddies/DD

DS had a large tub of sudocreme which he applied liberally to himself. The screaming from him when I was trying to wash it off was unreal and so dangerous as he was so slippery. We hadn’t long moved into our house and I thought the neighbours were going to call social services.

And then there was the time when he got the tub of food colouring out of the cupboard and drank the blue one. Full bottle and not the best aim to his mouth. Think he may have spat/dribbled a lot out due to the taste but he was only wearing a nappy so he looked like a smurf for a long time and had nappies like mushy peas for about 3 days!

Full tub of sudo cream(bigger size) smeared all over his body and carpet
Scribbling their names and pictures on the wall
Box of coco pops emptied all over the kitchen and carpet

Glitter shaken everywhere. Trailed through from living room to all rooms downstairs. Only left the room for a few minutes. It lingered for WEEKS

Sudocreme all over my DS1 and DS2 hair when I was making lunch - they were playing hairdressers, I did not know how to laugh or cry - it took me several attempt to get it out (washing up liquid has many uses I found)

While I was on the phone DS coloured-in his baby sister with felt tips, added pritt-stick and decorated her with pieces of torn foil. I still remember her baffled little face, they are 21 and 18 now.

Making handprints for Christmas cards with blue paint. The postman came, it was not even 5 minutes I came back into the dining room with two little bodies entirely covered in blue paint - EVEN THE WHITES OF THEIR EYES turned blue !! I had to march them to the bathroom and fill the bath twice whilst the water cleared and my two 'smurfs' were little boys again.

Has to be my £50 Estee Lauder face cream used as window cleaner in my DS2's bedroom - the whole lot went over the window, yes the room smelled lovely, Yes - surprisingly it worked, Yes I did not know whether to laugh or cry and yes it took me hours of elbow grease to get the window back to it's former glory.

My ds did a huge poo on his slide after his bath one evening!

Hmm, DS found the suncream spray, seconds after my car had been fully cleaned....over the dashboard, windscreen, glove compartment, floor and seats. Unbelievable.

I should have learnt my lesson when the month before he was found using suncream to grease the bike chain on DDs bike...cream and oil everywhere!

Bought my son an easel with a chalkboard on one side so he could practice his numbers. He happily used his chalks to draw on the board while I was in the room. I got a phone call and stepped into the kitchen and when I came back (I'd been gone 5 mins max), he'd drawn on every vaguely blackboard-esque surface. Leather sofas, coffee table, TV stand, TV itself and his Dad's prized sound bar! I still can't get it out of the little holes in the speaker and the sofa is still tinged with purple. He had done so much in 5 mins, two of the sofa cushions were completely coloured.

Vapour rub, DD found a tub on a not high enough shelf and smeared it all over (and in) her head.
I found her with tear tracks through the white waxy mask she'd made herself.
It took weeks to completely get rid of the menthol smell, that stuff is tenacious and hard to remove from ears! The nappies were prolific but strangely eucalyptus-scented that week, she must have eaten a fair bit.

This

Without a doubt - and still keep the darn stuff locked up ! Baby talcum powder, my son loves trains all all things Thomas - he found (in the aftermath) that shaking the container make 'smoke like Thomas does' so he (whilst I was making lunch) marched around the dining room and living room being a train. There was a fine covering of the power all over my dining room shelves, nic-naks, window ledge, shoes, (in and out) plants, photo frames and mirror. Thank goodness for baby wipes which cleaned the majority of the mess without distributing the powder further.

I'd just moved into a place and paid for new carpet. It had only been there days. Four year old DD found sudocrem AND my makeup bag and destroyed the whole lot 😭 My fault leaving them within reach but she was one of those children where everything had to be six feet off the floor and I didn't have shelves put in at the time...

Crunchy nut cornflakes scattered all over the cupboards/ floor/ worktops - just how!!!

My daughter is 2. She once emptied about 5 cereal boxes on the floor. We have felt tip pens drawn all over walls. Our sofa is covered in stains that I can't identify. She loves emptying any bottles out, so I have to remember to keep shampoo etc out of reach. She also loves my makeup, so my carpet is now covered in foundation and blusher.

Left 3 second fingerpainting
O My God
Fibreglass curtains as well

Pen all over the DDs beds and pillows and walls. DD1 denying she was part of it and blaming it on 2.5yr old dd2 even though dd1 had foolishly written her name in the graffiti...