Would you let your kids do this (fun)?

[LMD]

My husband pays for art classes for our kids so that the messy stuff is not done at home. We run the bubble machine at the bigger neighborhood park, my husband would happily buy the supplies (more than enough for any other kids who may be there) and drive us to the park.

 

My in-laws don’t tolerate mess. All mess has to be done in public school or at the park. All his relatives are public schooled, a few of his aunts have higher tolerance for mess but they will clean up immediately after their guests. They clean up even when they are guests at our house just because their cleanliness standards are higher.

 

ETA:

My husband does all the housework other than cooking. He would wash the dishes as well. So he does get a say since he would be the one cleaning the mess and vacuuming. DS12 would sweep the patio so he can make a mess there.

My mother in law will take the dishes you're not quite done with to wash them immediately!

I cannot even comprehend her cleanliness standard.

Dh would also have pause about wasted cinnamon and opening the freezer a lot, and would probably send the kids outside with their game, there's literally not enough space for cardboard boxes in here...

My 2 older boys are playing a very involved imaginary game - outside!

[Rosika]

Yes. In a heartbeat. My husband would have the same reaction as yours.

 

But I am the oldest of 8 children, with the youngest being born when i was almost 17. My husband is the youngest of 2 and was almost never around young kids. We came into marriage with some completely different ideas of how messy children can be.(both literally and figuratively)

 

This is similar to my first marriage. :lol:

 

OP, cinnamon is better than glitter!

[Catwoman]

Yes, I would. Honestly, I think it's weird that your dh is uptight about it.

My sentiments exactly! I think it’s adorable and creative!!!

[fraidycat]

I would. My husband is the biggest of “the kids†and would be the one to add even more mess and weird things to the fun.

[Elizabeth86]

Oh and on another note, my dh doesn't clean up so his opinion would be irrelevant anyway.

Edited January 9, 2018 by Elizabeth86

[Nart]

They are 11, 9, 7, and 5.

 

 I love your story even more knowing you have 4 boys. I would enthusiastically encourage that game because it entertains 4 boys for a week in the winter and all it took was boxes, stuffed animals, tongs, cinnamon, and a fridge.  Well that and a whole lot of imagination.  What creative boys you have!

[Tanaqui]

My DH hates hearing that song! Wonders why any man would write a song that makes other men cry!

 

Better to cry now because it's a sad song than to cry later because your kid doesn't love you.

 

Also: Everybody on this thread whose spouse doesn't get it needs to purchase a copy of Not a Box and assign it as bedtime reading for the next month.

[Arcadia]

Also: Everybody on this thread whose spouse doesn't get it needs to purchase a copy of Not a Box and assign it as bedtime reading for the next month.

My husband’s current bedtime reading is The Grapes of Wrath. That’s why he does the literature part of homeschooling. His current leisure reading is Achtung Baby: An American Mom on the German Art of Raising Self-Reliant Children

 

He gets imaginary play, just not the indoor mess when there is the big outdoors to make a mess in. His idea of fun is puddle jumping after a heavy downpour and making snow angels and snowmen.

[edelweiss]

I would absolutely allow it and would honestly be really peeved if my husband said anything to ruin their fun.

[ktgrok]

I'm thinking I'm very lucky to have a DH that gets this stuff. In fact, he and the kids have a "game" (term used loosely) called "Bad Rubble". Rubble is one of the characters on the show Paw Patrol. In this game they get out all the toy cars (we have a ton) and all the little paw patrol figurines, and a mechanical dinosaur, and a cash register,a nd I'm not sure what else. It's all over the floor. Rubble, the bulldog from paw patrol, is "bad" and needs to be captured. My DS5 usually controls Bad Rubble. DD7 runs the cash register at the store where DH shops for Rubble capturing supplies. Generally this sounds like, "I'll need 15 donuts, a case of motor oil, 348 tires, a pack of bubble gum, turpentine, dental floss, and 30 containers of glue. And a live pig." And my DD will happily ring each item up as he says it while DS5 is doing something crazy with Rubble and well...I really don't know what else happens then. I know there is a character called Pickle that is involved...It think Pickle is a green truck. I honestly don't get involved, this is their thing that they do with Daddy. But it's hysterical, and silly on a level I can never hope to emulate. 

 

So yeah, if my DH is still playing stuff like that, I think your boys are entitled too. They will probably grow up to be really fun dads!  

[mamakelly]

Absolutely! They grow up so fast. This kind of play is what good childhood memories are made of. I love it!

[Elizabeth86]

I'm thinking I'm very lucky to have a DH that gets this stuff. In fact, he and the kids have a "game" (term used loosely) called "Bad Rubble". Rubble is one of the characters on the show Paw Patrol. In this game they get out all the toy cars (we have a ton) and all the little paw patrol figurines, and a mechanical dinosaur, and a cash register,a nd I'm not sure what else. It's all over the floor. Rubble, the bulldog from paw patrol, is "bad" and needs to be captured. My DS5 usually controls Bad Rubble. DD7 runs the cash register at the store where DH shops for Rubble capturing supplies. Generally this sounds like, "I'll need 15 donuts, a case of motor oil, 348 tires, a pack of bubble gum, turpentine, dental floss, and 30 containers of glue. And a live pig." And my DD will happily ring each item up as he says it while DS5 is doing something crazy with Rubble and well...I really don't know what else happens then. I know there is a character called Pickle that is involved...It think Pickle is a green truck. I honestly don't get involved, this is their thing that they do with Daddy. But it's hysterical, and silly on a level I can never hope to emulate.

 

So yeah, if my DH is still playing stuff like that, I think your boys are entitled too. They will probably grow up to be really fun dads!

:lol:thats awesome. Yeah pickle is a green car from blaze and the monster machine. Pretty neat STEM show for preschool kids

[Seeking Squirrels]

Absolutely! I see nothing wrong with any of that, it's actually quite creative. 

[eternalsummer]

That would be in the cleaner/neater half of the things our kids do for entertainment :)  General rules are: nothing sticky, nothing with tiny parts (we have babies/toddlers), nothing dangerous, clean up at the end.

[Joyofsixreboot]

Let 'em go. They aren't hurting a thing. Imagination is a good thing.

 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Tapatalk

[Lizzie in Ma]

Absolutely.  Once we had a mini apartment with boxes that youngest lived in for several weeks in the living room. ;)

Also, I very clearly remember her Spiderwick phase when we had salt in every doorway and window.

 

[EMS83]

:lol:   I love it.  I'm not sure if I'd let them or not, but it's not weird at all.  That's super cute and sounds like a great compromise between total house takeover and being the Mom of No.  Mine have never asked me for those things, so I'm not sure what I'd say.  I do let them use my tupperware to rinse paint brushes, and then scrub/wash and use as normal...   :leaving:   And we have dedicated bug-saving papers I find randomly, which look like trash (except they say "bug paper" on them).  My middle is the catch and release expert.  Mud stains in the bathroom , random muddy toys inside...  :D  Kids are messy; I'll have a sterile home when they're gone, and people who like sterile homes can come over then.  ;)  Plus I make a lot of messes trying to DIY, and I don't really ask DH's permission first (he doesn't travel or anything).  Currently all our mess is mine.

[Guest]

I think it is terrifc, but I might possibly suggest another idea for restoring magic and I might say we *pretend* to sprinkle cinnamon. I would also reach a point eventually when the boxes need to experience an earthquake that renders them all recycling. ;) But when my kids were little, they would make elaborate stuffed animal environments from the couch cusions and pillows. I allowed it, but it obviously had to be cleaned up and cusions returned.

 

I can absolutely see my DH having a problem with it in some vague way. At one point in our lives, he wanted DS to play with Legoes and all other toys only in the “studio,†(not the family room). I shut that right down.

[Monica_in_Switzerland]

I'd also say no to the freezer part, but everything else would be fantastic!  

 

That's the sort of memory that can stay with a family forever and be cherished by all.  

 

My DH would have no problems with this, as long as he could walk down the hallway without tripping too much.  

[Ravin]

We don’t have a kitchen table, negligible empty countertop space and I only have 1oz of ground cinnamon in my house because two of us hate the smell of cinnamon. My kids are welcomed to make a mess at my patio table with whatever unwanted and expired spices they can find. My patio table is already dust covered anyway.

 

My husband and I grew up as city kids in small apartment units. Our toys are mostly imaginary so we can have afternoon tea with invisible cups, sugar cubes and milk jugs. When you have at least 8 people in 818sqft, most toys have to be small (Aladdin/poker cards) or imaginary.

 

My husband would be annoyed with anyone who opens the freezer more than needed. We get a puddle of water whenever the freezer door isn’t shut well. So it is not about contamination but rather about shortening the refrigerator’s lifespan.

 

ETA:

Cinnamon and other home remedies are no fight for the local ants invasion. So far only ant poison has worked. Apparently the Argentine ants are displacing the native harvester ants.

 

Cinnamon or cayenne does effectively confuse ant chemtrails. I agree that it won't by itself fend off a major invasion. I'm a fan of bait in hard for kids (and pets) to reach places combined with spice barriers along floorboards or anywhere I find them coming in from outside. I mentioned it mostly to counter the argument that it would attract ants, which it won't.

[BlsdMama]

So my kids have created this world for their stuffed animals that they built with the amazon boxes that came at Christmas. In this world the plushes can be brought to life by drawing a picture of them and sprinkling cinnamon on the picture (at the kitchen table only!). Then if they accidentally touch the plush, it has to go in the freezer for five minutes to regain its magic. They carry them around with tongs because humans can’t touch them. They have been playing this all week.

 

Dh got home today and was completely flabbergasted that I let them do this-playing with trash and kitchen utensils. Putting stuffed animals in the fridge where food goes?? Cinnamon will bring ants and it wastes food! I was completely caught off guard that this would be so weird.

 

Would you let your kids play this? Am I completely weird? I guess I thought it was a nice way to spend a winter week when all our activities are canceled and it is icy and cold outside. But Dh just couldn’t believe that anyone would allow it. (This is not a marriage fight or anything. Just wondering if this is just way out of the norm for other families)

 

ETA: they clean the cinnamon up right away. We don’t have cinnamon sprinkled papers all over the kitchen or anything

 

 

Call it upcycling and it is tres chic.

 

The cinnamon is a stretch for me because at my house? It would never stay in the box.  Ever.  It would be everywhere and children would be crying from a cinnamon eye or something crazy.

The boxes? Absolutely.  Carrying animals with tongs?  Yes to stuffed and possible to live.

Things not food in fridge?  Yes.  But it does drive DH absolutely nuts.  

 

:D

[Farrar]

I coated every corner of my kitchen with cinnamon last spring to get RID of ants. And it was the only thing that worked. So that objection is really wrongheaded. Ants loathe cinnamon. Most insects do.

 

I don't understand why adults want to control children's play so much sometimes. I mean, if you were sprinkling sugar and putting dirt in the fridge... but generally speaking...

 

[SparklyUnicorn]

Yes I would, but I'd encourage something other than cinnamon because that stuff is really messy and hard to get off. 

 

 

[Spryte]

Yes, absolutely, and so would my DH. We’d probably encourage it.

 

It sounds fabulously fun, and imaginative, and honestly - I love Big Play like that.

 

What a glorious way to spend the winter!

[Spryte]

Aaaannnnd... now my 6 yr old DD wants to play. :)

Edited January 9, 2018 by Spryte

[fraidycat]

I'm thinking I'm very lucky to have a DH that gets this stuff. In fact, he and the kids have a "game" (term used loosely) called "Bad Rubble". Rubble is one of the characters on the show Paw Patrol. In this game they get out all the toy cars (we have a ton) and all the little paw patrol figurines, and a mechanical dinosaur, and a cash register,a nd I'm not sure what else. It's all over the floor. Rubble, the bulldog from paw patrol, is "bad" and needs to be captured. My DS5 usually controls Bad Rubble. DD7 runs the cash register at the store where DH shops for Rubble capturing supplies. Generally this sounds like, "I'll need 15 donuts, a case of motor oil, 348 tires, a pack of bubble gum, turpentine, dental floss, and 30 containers of glue. And a live pig." And my DD will happily ring each item up as he says it while DS5 is doing something crazy with Rubble and well...I really don't know what else happens then. I know there is a character called Pickle that is involved...It think Pickle is a green truck. I honestly don't get involved, this is their thing that they do with Daddy. But it's hysterical, and silly on a level I can never hope to emulate.

 

So yeah, if my DH is still playing stuff like that, I think your boys are entitled too. They will probably grow up to be really fun dads!

This is my DH, too. When the kids were younger they had some elaborate game they played on playground equipment with all kinds of safe and not safe zones and rules about touching certain things causing everyone to freeze. I could never quite grasp all the rules, but DH would go run and climb and play it with them for hours. I got down time.

[Laura Corin]

Yes. Cinnamon isn't sweet. I doubt the ants would like it.

[BarbecueMom]

I'd allow it with modifications.  No to the fridge/freezer because it doesn't like to stay closed and is stuffed Tetris-style with food (I do let them cool/freeze "experiments").  If we had a bigger/not crappy/emptier/extra fridge it would be okay.  But we don't.  They could clean out whatever cabinet/pantry they wanted to use though.  My cousin and I fought the Soggy Monsters as kids, who were often discovered on the same shelf as the creamed corn.

 

And not cinnamon because of asthma and itchy eye allergies.  It's all fun and games until someone is screaming that they can't get the sweet smell of Christmas off their eyeballs. A cup of water and a brush for flinging/shaking, or a spray bottle of water, would be fine with me though.  But I wouldn't put it past my 9yo to scream about sprayed water anywhere in the vicinity of his eyes.

 

I'll be honest, I was a VERY creative kid as a child, and one day I woke up and was suddenly extremely bothered by Things Not Being Used for Their Intended Purpose.  So while I would never, ever say a word to my kids, it makes my throat tickle a bit to see an Amazon box with something other than an Amazon order in it, or a couch cushion on the floor as a "play house kitchen table".  I just try to breathe through it.