Parenting Confessions, JFF...

Well they kind of know I throw all that stuff out. :p

Oh gads!! McDonalds toys!! Yeah those they never knew why they disappeared.

We have a 'paper basket' that all artwork goes into... anything that Kiddo can't seem to bring to the recycling goes in there. Once every couple months I do a big purge-- the special stuff goes into a notebook with plastic sleeves expressly for saving the 'treasures'.

I've also added an extra five minutes on the timer near the end of Quiet Play time when I've had a rough day. Sometimes this makes all the difference...

And yes, the little junk toys that get left out go in the trash covertly. I also had a garage sale recently: Kiddo got to keep the money from the toys that sold, but I didn't show him what I was selling-- and he hasn't asked for any of these toys in ages. Executive decision, that.

Ever snuck a piece of chocolate and then your kid smells it on your breath? Hmm? chocolate? whatever do you mean? I have no idea why mommy smells like chocolate.

HAHA! Me too, R.! But not the Crayolas--those are too good. Only the free ones they give out at restaurants.

I do hide my Weight Watchers ice cream bars in the freezer, under the veggie basket. No reason to be spending that kind of money on the kids' snacks ;)

That's about all I can keep secret from the kids, and still be usable to me. So often I'll take something from them and stash it somewhere, and then have NO CLUE where I put it when we do need it.

I hide certain toys sometimes if they are causing too much trouble. I wait til my son walks away (or just take it) and then go and hide it in my closet for a day or two.

I also have a candy stash in my drawer that no one knows about. Well.. Except all of you now! :p But I like to sneak in a treat when everyone is off napping or at work.

Dollar store toys that my MIL has given my daughter over the years have often mysteriously disappeared. They were usually broken before being used, needed obscure batteries so they could make mindless loud noises, were made from materials that were most likely toxic, etc. I've brought things home from my MIL's house and put them right in the trash before ever bringing them into my house. If ever asked about said toy(s), my standard answer is - oh, that must be packed away - I rotate toys often. Yeah, not happening.

My daughter has graciously accepted many a toy knowing it would be in the garbage by day's end. She has never been upset over any of this. She still can't believe that she received a dinner plate sized mechanical spider from my MIL as a gift one Christmas. Yup, in the trash. Really scary bugger.

I might also have a special snack or two stashed for myself. hee, hee.

I hide Pringles in my room in a drawer they can't open. Sometimes that drawer has chocolate. :shush:

Sometimes I take the wires for the Wii and hide them where even my husband can't find them and then feign innocence. It's worth the week/month of silence until one of them finds it. "What do you mean it was stashed behind the towels in the linen closet? How could it have gotten there?"

If there's an EXTREMELY annoying toy that we didn't buy and it "breaks" but they don't realize is fixable then I let them think it's busted beyond repair and I let them think I've tossed it when in reality I donate it to Goodwill.

I throw away my 4 yr old son's artwork. NOT ALL of it! But yesterday he was a policeman and wrote scribbles on a notepad, tore it out and gave me "a ticket." I kept it then. But today, I threw all 4 tickets in the trash. :P

I have a sweet stash too. :)

I trash rogue crayons and other little things like that - but I tell my son a lot of the time - "We're cleaning up right now. If you don't help clean up, something you want may get trashed!" He is coming to learn that he needs to pick up after himself.

Also - we don't have tv. We do everything via hulu or netflix. I am so glad he can't read everything yet. I can tell him I am searching for a certain show. He even saw me "type" the letters in to search for his show. But little sneaky lying mom -- I just didn't want to watch one more minute of that show! I told him "Hmm. I guess it's not here anymore."

Miss ya R.. Hope all is well.

Hi, R.:

As a parent you have certain duties:
*The duty not to steal or destroy the property of another.
*The duty to be honest in all transactions with others.
*The duty of children to honor and obey their parents and elders.
*The duty of parents and elders to protect, teach, feed, clothe, and provide shelter for children.
*The duty to honorably perform contracts and covenants both with God and man.
*The duty not to trespass on the property or privacy of another.
*The duty to maintain the integrity of the family structure.

Do you think what you wrote conforms to the duty that parents need to teach their children?

I am concerned about what you are teaching your children and promoting on this social network; your duty is to support personal and public standards of common decency.

Good luck.
D.

I can't think of anything other than what you all do...special stash of snacks (and we still eat theirs too! LOL) and throw junk away when its left laying around. =)

When they are at school... I go through things, and toss it in the trash can or in a trash bag, and I don't tell them. This is stuff, that is just accumulating.
And they NEVER notice, it gone.

I dance around the trash can when throwing away really obnoxious toys. Sometimes I get a garbage bag and fill it with toys they don't play with and through it away. If they ever go looking for the toy I've tossed and come to me asking were it is I answer, "I have no idea where that toy is right now." I figure I'm telling the truth because honestly I don't know where the toy is at that moment. Sometimes I lay in wait for my kids to misbehave so I can ditch an annoying toy. Oh and we have cable TV but the TV just isn't hooked up to it. It was cheeper to get internet in the package with cable than to just get internet. Sometimes my husband and I hook the TV in our room up to cable and watch a show when our kids are sleeping.

Hubby and I also have our little stash of "goodies" in the bedroom.

My biggest confession is I wait for GD to go somewhere overnight and then I go into her room and toss things. Usually its just the accumulation of papers from school, etc., but sometimes I get those little toys that keep finding their way under my feet when I walk!

Ha. Those are my secrets. I also throw out sales papers(my kids like to save them...yes, they are strange) and other "trash" I find in their rooms from time to time.