When you’re taking care of kids, a little peace and quiet is often welcome — until it’s not. That silence may come with some consequences: The littles ones are up to something. And you never know quite what it’s going to be.
We looked to the HuffPost community (as well as X, formerly known as Twitter) for the hilarious and adorable stories of the mischief they’ve caught their kids getting into. Read their stories below:
Responses have been lightly edited for clarity and length.
1. “This summer, my kids found a pack of googly eyes and put them on pictures all over the house, the front door next to the peephole and their own butts.” — Molly J.
2. “I was working at home — this was during the summer when my kids were little. I was in a bedroom that we use as an office, and after a period of time, I realized my kids were being suspiciously quiet. I went out into the main part of the house and found them in the kitchen, with mixing bowls, spoons, measuring cups, spices, expensive vanilla extract, baking ingredients, ketchup, and more strewn all over the place. My youngest leaned toward me, and in a stage whisper said, ‘We’re makin’ somepin’ that isn’t even a thing!’ Meanwhile, my oldest was smiling at me, stirring a bunch of unidentified slop that was splashing all over.” — Adrienne Hedger, cartoonist at Hedger Humor
3. “When our daughter was about 6, she got into and ate most of her Halloween candy and hid the wrappers in one of her shoes. We found it when cleaning out her room, and we dumped the boot upside down and all these candy wrappers poured out.” — Kendra V.
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5. “When my kids were younger — about 5 and 3 — they had just gotten bunk beds. Despite being told several times not to jump up and down on the top bunk, they did so anyway and in the process snapped two of the support cross beams under the top mattress.
Rather than admit to this, they ran into the kitchen and grabbed all of the glue on their art cart. My wife and I watched our two kids scurry back into their shared bedroom and close the door. It was her turn to see what fresh nightmare awaited us, so she got up and cracked open the door just enough to see them attempting to glue two shattered pieces of lumber together with a mountain of liquid glue. She probably should have stopped it sooner, but she was trying so hard to contain her laughter that all it did was pique my curiosity. Once I saw what she was laughing at, I joined her for a moment in the laugh before we went in and busted them.” — Dan Dougherty, illustrator at Beardo Comics
6. “When my twin girls were toddlers, one would lift the other to get into the snacks or up on the bathroom sink to get the family toothbrushes! Of course it was always when they were quiet that we knew mischief was going on.” — Cheryl M.
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8. “My granddaughter always ran to turn on the sink water so my shower would turn cold. I always let out a yell. Bonding moments. Ahhh!” — Marilyn J.
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10. “When my niece was little — 3ish — if you were ever missing a shoe, it was likely ‘asleep’ in her room. She would line up shoes and put them to bed, complete with pillow and blanket. Not dolls. Not stuffed animals. Shoes.” — Tracie B.
11. “In 6th grade, my son skipped school and was seen riding his bike in another neighbourhood. On my way home from work, I stopped at our little grocery shop and a woman in line told me she’d seen him today riding his bike. I walked in the door, called his name and he stood in front of me, saw the look on my face, and said, ‘YOU JUST GOT HOME FROM WORK! How do you know what I did already?’ Small town.” — Irene S.
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13. “I learned two new things today. My son can open baby powder. And he can also climb the bookshelf.” — Tayme R.
14. “My daughter and her friend were in my daughter’s room, just laughing and laughing— to the point that I thought, ‘This is not good.’ So I went in and, lo and behold, half of my daughter’s underwear was up on the ceiling fan and the other half was strewn all over the room. They were tossing her underwear up on the fan and then turning the fan on and letting it fly all around. My daughter was also wearing a pair of underwear on her head.” — Hedger