How have your children got up to 'monkey business'? Share with Ape for the chance to win a £300 voucher

[LucyBMumsnet]

This sponsored discussion is now closed. Thank you to everyone who posted their stories below."

Children often choose their moments wisely and cause mischief as soon as you turn your back. It’s only once they’ve already buttered the carpet or themselves head-to-toe in Sudocrem that you realise they’re up to monkey business. Ape have cut the monkey business - making snacks with plant based ingredients and natural flavours - and would like to hear the stories of the times your children have got up to mischief.

Here’s what Ape has to say: “We know there are times when your kids have caused a little chaos. However, you have to admit that their antics make for great entertainment. They’re the moments that turn into memories which you look back at and laugh about. Ape snacks contain no monkey business, but we do want to hear about the good kind of monkey business your cheeky children get up to.

Perhaps they gave themselves a haircut or decided to decorate the house with streams of precious loo roll? Maybe you caught them red-handed stealing from the snacks cupboard? (We don’t blame them when there are tasty treats around!). Whatever the monkey business is, we can’t wait to hear what stories you have to share!”

What’s the most mischievous thing your child has done? Perhaps they used felt tips to draw on brilliant white walls or tucked into your birthday cake when no one was looking? How did you cope with the situation? Did it require a big clean up job or was there a lot of explaining that needed to be done? Is it something you laugh about in hindsight?

Whatever mayhem your child has caused, let us know on the thread below and you will be entered into a prize draw where one lucky Mumsnetter will win a £300 voucher for a store of their choice (from a list).

Thanks and good luck!
MNHQ

Standard Insight T&Cs apply

Playing mummies (the Egyptian ones) DS1 and 2 made themselves into toilet roll covered mummies - I would not mind but we were down to our last 2 until by supermarket delivery came - I rescued as much as I could, we were using toilet roll from a carrier bag until replenished.

The worst (at the time) was when DS2 gave DS1 a Mohican hair style with my (expensive) texturising gum which was to be used sparingly - I tried every remedy - washing with washing up liquid .....lemon juice ..... nothing worked - the whole lot had to be clippered off - having to change clippers half way through. It was an ordeal at the time - can about it npw

A regular occurrence is DD being put to bed, looking angelic, and within five minutes she'll have stripped everything off her bed and launched it across the room. Teddies, dummies, bed socks; even pillows and duvet.

The last time she did it, she was tired after trashing the joint and ready to go to sleep, but she didn't have a pillow to rest her head on because she'd thrown it on the floor. Cue wailing from her and much laughter from me!

An empty wrapper from my secret chocolate stash appeared beside my computer mouse. All of the DCs were blaming one another. However, the culprit had also moved the mouse to the left hand side of the keyboard. Only one of my three is left-handed. Hmmmmmm.

Changing every folder and file name on my work desktop this week! Working from home woes!

Dh and I working from home in separate rooms, each thought the other was watching our just turned 3 year old. Nope, she was unsupervised on the stairs after finding some paint!

Too many to choose from but just today my 4 year old "accidentally" tipped over the bucket of tadpoles we brought inside to watch grow. Wriggly slimy devils everywhere and almost impossible to scoop back up

DD tried to run-away from school to go and get a dog from the rescue centre. Her teacher didn't notice her sneak out and had to run after her.

When I was making breakfast the other day my two year old daughter somehow managed to get in the baking cupboard, make off with the vanilla essence, unscrew the cap and chug half the bottle! I would have assumed it would taste horrible but she loved it, there was a lot of howling when I took it away!

My 5 year old smeared a full tin of Vaseline lip balm through her hair "because I want to look like daddy". Took about a week and a phone call to a hairdresser to get it all out.

When my DD was not quite two, she decided to follow her Dad and Grandad out when they went to play golf. Her absence wasn't noticed for 10-15 minutes as I thought she was upstairs with her Grandma, and Grandma thought she was downstairs with me (Grandma was getting her shoes on ready for a walk, I was getting the baby ready for the walk). In this time, DD managed to get to the golf course, and was running happily across it (about half a mile from the house). When we realised she was missing I ran out the house, without shoes or coat and had made it to the edge of the golf course, where I could her across the other side. DH had noticed her from where they were playing and was also haring after her (plus another random player from another direction).

Thank goodness we lived on an Army camp, and after that we always used the top bolt on the gate!

Having a cup of tea with a friend while our daughters played upstairs. Realised it had gone quiet.. went to check on them and they were playing hairdressers. My daughter had a ridiculous short fringe. She looked like a complete eejit. We make sure to check on them as soon as it goes quiet now

Age 3, my DS once threw my house and car keys in the kitchen bin. Fortunately I heard jangling when I took the bin bag out, otherwise they would have been gone forever.

Drew a willy on the wall, behind the sofa, which we have only just found around 3 years later.

My niece was staying in our spare room. We heard wailing and went to check - my sister thought she was covered in blood only to discover she'd gone through the drawers, extracted a red permanent marker from a pencil case and drawn on herself, her sheet, the carpet....

Gardening, and digging up lot of 'onions' from my front garden - there goes my spring flowering daffodils !

my little one was really quiet then i found they were playing with a whole bag of flour in the kitchen.

one time i walked in and my child was using felt tip pens and was colouring in on my other child's face!

my little one found their way into my make up bag while i was cleaning the house. they used the whole of my brand new lipstick on themselves and my bed sheets!

Playing hairdresser roleplay which we only realised too late that it was a bit too realistic. The new fringe took a long time to grow out..

We tried a new chewy vitamin to give my DS1 when he was 4/5 and he would eat them happily. About a month later, I was tidying up and saw small coloured balls in DH's spare work boots. DS1 had been putting them in his mouth in front of us and then taking them out of his mouth and hiding them in the boots. We found a lot. Needless to say we didn't buy them expensive vitamins again.

My 1 year old is a menace and he loves to post things. Any new post we get is immediately reposted out the cat flap. My car keys go out the letter box and anything goes down the toilet- his cup, balls, train track etc

Posting a fish finger sandwich in my beloved VHS player - we did not use it much, only for home videos of family holidays, Christmas's and birthdays.

It was not until the 'sniff' test brought me to the television cabinet that I found the grey fluffy stinky evidence- and DS age 4 admitted to the 'crime'

My DH took the player apart - and managed to clean it up - and it's still working today.

I think my two children have worked their way through the whole list of ‘monkey business’ through the years. My son decided to cut my daughter’s hair when she was three. My daughter drew ‘beautiful’ pictures with felt tips all over my bedroom wall - that was over ten years ago - they’re still there. My son smeared the contents of my makeup bag all over my duvet cover and carpet as a toddler and went through a phase of weeing in the living room bin or mop bucket rather than the toilet! I’m glad they are now young adults...

Our son decided to get creative with one of my eyeshadow palettes which resulted in our bedroom looking like a murder scene!