Jumping on Beds & Other Such Naughtiness

I've had several conversations on this sort of topic with Aaron & wondered what everyone else thinks.... When I was growing up there were a lot of things that other kids got into trouble over & we didn't. Just silly little things that mum often joined us in doing that Aaron would have gotten in trouble for let alone his mum joining in. So now with Zander I don't have an issue with these things and Aaron is mostly in my way of thinking (after some persuasion ;) ). So my question is, what do you think of these? Will your kids be allowed to do them or will it be a no-no in your house? Also are there any others you can think of that yo got away with, but your friends didn't?

* Jumping on beds - we were forever diving between beds when two of us shared a room. When we were in Qld just recently we put all the chair cushions on the floor & took turns diving on them with Zander (this was me, Aaron (reluctantly) and my younger sister).

* Blowing bubbles in milk - this is definitely one that mum joined in on hehe!! We were always politely when drinking properly, a friend that I've had since primary school still remembers my mum's "requests" for her to drinking nicely LOL! But when it came to bubble blowing she just didn't care. Zander loves doing it now, mum joins but MIL tells him to stop it.

* Water fights in the house - I remember splashing mum in the kitchen only to be carried off & thrown in a cold shower fully clothed :cryinglaugh: There was obviously times when we knew not to push it, but we'd quite often be running round the house with water pistols with mum hot on our tails LOL! She'd even set it up & find out when dad would be getting home from work so we could ambush him! We always had carpet in the house too. As well as that there'd be powder fights too :D

* Days off school - if we wanted a day off school we could, within reason of course. We didn't have to be sick & mum would let us have a day off every now & then. The only condition was that we had to stay home for the day & not go to the shops or anything like that. We never had to fake being sick like our friends did to have the day off. I'd say it would have been lucky to be once a term for me & when I was in Year 12 I didn't have a single day off.

I encourage milk blowing and days off school... I think I'd have to let go of the anal annie in me to do the water fight thing but I probably could ;) And as for the bed thing, I have a morbid fear of jumping on beds for a few reasons, I had an incident with a plank breaking... could have been waaaaaaay worse than it was and just the safety aspect not for any other...

As for stuff I got away with um no, definitely not. I was probably that kid who wasn't allowed to do anything LOL!

*hugs*
Cailin

Hehe - I don't think we'll be too strict on those sort of things. My only worry is.. how do you teach him not to do it at other people's places??

Tallon will no doubt (NO doubt) pick up DH's table manners... which, ok.. I can handle at home.. but he's gonna have to learn 2 sets of manners! LOL. Coz he can't pick up his plate and lick it when we're out!!

Blowing bubbles - only in milkshakes! hehehe. Same with slurping the bottom of a milkshake - it's not a milkshake without it!! LOL

Umm... school - nup - only if he's sick I think. Otherwise he'll want days off work too when he's older.. and real life doesn't work like that. hehehe.

Waterfights - only outside - but with the drought? dunno. Bit of a waste. Well.. the way we had waterfights would be a waste anyway. LOL.

Liz I don't have days off work unless I'm dying, in year 11 and 12 I had one day off over the two years & that was because of tonsilitis. So it doesn't necessarily mean they'd do it all the time ;)

Cai yikes I hadn't thought about the bed breaking! I guess you do have a point there. Hmmm might have to rethink that one ;) As for being anal annie, you can probably do water fights in the bathroom LOL!

Hmm, you raise some very valid points Sarah LOL. When we were kids we jumped on beds, had waterfights (but they were banished to outside), blew milk bubbles but we had to be bleeding from the eyes before we were allowed to stay home from school though.

I have noticed with Mum though that she has mellowed ALOT and my 12 yo brother has frequent days off school (bordering on too many really) and lets him get away with things we didn't.

As for my kids, well they jump on beds (a little kid will hardly do damage to a bed - only themselves LOL) and if they fall off they get up and go again. I haven't taught them to blow milk bubles cause my kids are extroardinarily clumsy when it comes to drinks. And I admit I am strict on going to school though.

The water fights are a differnt story altogether LOL - we don't have any water for it :) but when it does rain, we encourage the kids to jump in muddy puddles and muck around.

Jumping on beds happens here especially in mornings when trying to wake up Dad so we can go somewhere! We did jumping on Mum & Dads bed as kids too...

Slurping & blowing bubbles in drinks is Ok, until I am sick of the noise too like Shannon, it's fine but when it's been too long it's been too long & they will get a look!!!

Water fights outside (prior to drought) as we have floor boards & too slippery, although we do have bubble blowing inside which Indah loves!!!

We used to be able to bring injured & stray pets home & I will happily allow the kids to do this as I love animals!!!

We were allowed days off school (not just for faking sickies) my Dad used to work away 2 nights a month & we would take it in turns going with him, but I went the most coz I loved it more, I am so close with my Dad! Also Mum would let us have a day off & we'd go out for lunch & do girly things together! (I hated school)

I want to be a fun Mum, I know I was shocked when I went to friends places & they had no posters on walls, nothing on walls throughout the whole house plastic on the lounge suite & everyone was proper too uncomfy for me!

Dh generally eats with his hands & so do the girls usually, My Parents dislike it but DH's family encourage it...

They know what they can do at home & not else where!!! (Well Maddy does!)

Yep - we are a house of kids here too. I dont like thewater fight inside thing - purely from a safety tiles point of view, and I dont really agree with the school thing either.
My mum always used to say - kids that stay home work, so if we really weren't that sick, we ended up doing some housework. Obviously if we were really sick we were in bed :)

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Liz I don't have days off work unless I'm dying, in year 11 and 12 I had one day off over the two years & that was because of tonsilitis. So it doesn't necessarily mean they'd do it all the time ;)

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I would! LOL.

Beds - I think they're different now too. We had dodgy springy beds (great for the bounce) but always got wrecked by the jumping. I wouldn't think a slat bed would be as much fun would it?? heheh

I used to jump on my bed when i was a kid but would get into trouble. In the end it did break!

Never had water fights or anything. I was an only child so mostly played by myself.

Wasn't allowed off school unless i was sick or very tired, as i was anaemic for a while there.

I don't think i will allow that stuff. Except for the days off school if they are tired/sick. Water fights would just get too messy with the amount of furniture we have.

What about swinging on the clothesline? That ad on TV always cracked me up with the dad swinging on it and breaking it. We used to swing around on ours all the time! It's a little lopsided now - but has been up for over 30 years!

Oh yeah! we used to do that all the time. We had this huge bird aviary right near the clothes line and we would climb on top of the aviary and jump from it to the clothes line! the kids who lived next door to us, their parents were a bit more uptight and they had a similar set up with the aviary, and one day we were doing over at their place and the clothes line did bend LMAO right down to the ground too!. I got banned from their place for 2 weeks "because I was a bad influence on her children" She was a mum who thought butter wouldn't melt in her kids mouths, but they were the ones who taught us!

OK jumping on beds would have gotten our legs broken. I don't let my kids jump on beds. They are for sleeping in.

Blowing bubbles, well, only in a milkshake and not all of the time. No slurping though.

Water fights, sure, there were plenty. Outside. We often had hard floors, and they really do get slippery when wet. At out house now we have ceramic tiles and they are so slippery when just mopping so I'd hate to have huge puddles on it. Outside is fine though.

I used to fake illness to get off school, although my younger brother could just sook for it and get it off. My kids to get days off even when they are well. With Joel I figure if he really doesn't want to go either I keep him home where I know he is or he wag's, so what's the better option.

Don't get me wrong there was plenty of love and fun in the house and it was never unusal to have the music blaring with mum dancing with us around the house. We do the same with our kids.

My parents were very strict about all of those, save the sick days! I don't approve of jumping on beds because it destroys the mattress and the wooden slats (my sister broke the slats under her bed jumping on the bed) and if it's expensive to repair then it's not fun to break. Same with shoes on sofas - I'm less anal about putting feet on sofas than my parents are, but not with shoes/slippers on: clean feet only. I wouldn't approve swinging on the clothes line: I never even thought of doing that when I was little (would have been killed!)

Blowing bubbles, of course we'll be doing that! That's fun - even if it was banned for no good reason when I was growing up. Water fights... we had them outside if the weather was OK; I must admit as the water could go in the electrics I wouldn't like them in the kitchen (we have an open kitchen/lounge and the giant TV is quite close to the kitchen area), but the bathroom would be fine.

I'm actually going to be a lot stricter on sick days than my mother was: if my child wants a day off then we'll find out why and part of the day will be used for home study. If it's because homework hasn't been done I'll want to know why it hasn't been done before they can take the day off to do it.

I really love having the music on and dancing with Liebling - we do it already and I don't want that to stop! I had to do that alone when I was little so want to join in with Liebling as much as I can. I'd say I would want to put fun and making happy memories above housework... my main memory of my mum from when I was 6ish was her telling us to tidy thing s so she could vacuum!

This is great!!!

Jumping on beds - fully endorsed in this house ;) if you don't jump on the bed, there must be something wrong with you (or you're too tall & hit the ceiling fan).

Blowing in the milk - why not??

Water fights - as long as you help in the towel dragging of Matilda around the house afterwards... (after a water fight we put Matilda on a towel & drag her around to mop up any water spilt)

Days off School - hmmm.... we'll see when the time comes what Matilda is like, but I'm sure we'll let her chuck a sickie now & then

Clotheslines - hmmmm I think DH has already started this with her.

Running in the house - well... she doesn't walk. ;)

Hahaha Christy ;) Love it.
Totally in for the clothesline thing. We all did it! At themoment we have a tilt line, soI'm hoping we have a circular one next time.

We play ball sports inside too. We had a very long hallway in the housewe grew up in, and all 4 kids used to play cricket in it...... With a soft ball of course ;) Shane was playing with a tennis ball and a squash racquet inside only 3 days ago!!

I should also mention that I have a nasty scar above my eyebrow fromwhere I split my head open bouncing on the bed as a child. Wont stop me letting Jenna bounce, but I do try to keep an eye on her. Our beds as kids were great - it was a mattress on top of a metal springy mesh thing. OMG - you should have seen how high we got on that one!

When I was about 16 I broke the floorboards under my parents bed. I ran intotheir room and jumped onto the end of the bed - and one castor went through the floor boards!!!!! I dont remember mum and dad being angry with me, so thats a great thing.

Be a kid with your kid - it certainly keeps you younger.

Oooooh clothesline, I forgot about that one :)

And running in the house is a must LOL, Zander doesn't know how to walk LOL!

Christy I like the towel dragging idea!! We haven't had a proper water fight with Zander yet, but I think we'll be using that one. He already knows how to get daddy - he has his spray bottle in the bath & shouts out "come here daddy" and aims at the door waiting for him to come in ROFL! It was funny the first time cos Aaron had no clue what was coming.

Yeah - fun thread Sarah!!!

Bed jumping - no way! We were never allowed (although that never stopped us) and i certainly won't be encouraging it.

Bubble blowing - never did it! And if my kids occasionally do it i don't think it'll bother me.

Water fights - NEVER in the house!!! I'd have to do all the cleaning up.

Days off school - we were sometimes allowed our 'mental health days' and i'll certainly continue that one :)

Running in the house - hmmm - right now while Ella is small it's no probs but when i have two big girls running about i'll prob send them outside.

Swinging on clothesline - i was always too short so never did it. And we don't have one so i won't need to worry about that.

What about throwing/kicking balls in the house? - This was a big no no for us and i'll be enforcing it too.

And being allowed to play with anything that resembled a gun - my mum's biggest ban - and i know i'll be forever arguing with DH about it but i want to be a big meany about that one too. Thank goodness i have girls - maybe they won't even be interested!

Crap lost my post... Basically we tied a swing to our washinmg line with rope so we could spin & swing!

Maddy skates in the house (floorboards) on her heelies...

I hated those spring beds, if you climbed under them for anything your hair would get caught!

We had an inground swimming pool & often, we'd all get thrown in fully dressed!!!

Yep like pants down in the cubby house!!!!

Balls at the moment yes, but later on no as things can be broken. We were never allowed either.

With guns yes, I don't see a problem with it at all personally. Have you seen this article that was in this month's newsletter? At the botto it talks about violent toys....

blowing in the milk - why not
water fights in the house - that's what the outdoors is for
jumping on beds - Yasin loves it but I worry about the safety so I let him but only for a little while and only occasionaly
days off school - only for special occasions and outings. I look forward to suprising my boys with the occasional day at the beach or trip to the zoo similar instead of school
throwing balls inside - I hope DH grows out of it before he breaks something
running inside - if you need to get somewhere why walk
hanging off the clothes line - I still do it rofl
guns - my sister gave Yasin his first water pistol recently. I was taught to use a gun by my parents and I think that I will teach my boys how to use them. I'm a not big guns freak but my parents really drilled the safety aspects of handling firearms into me and I would like to know that my boys know how to handle guns safely instead of taking the risk that they will be around them one day and handle them unsafely and have a tragic accident.

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throwing balls inside - I hope DH grows out of it before he breaks something

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thats hilarious :cryinglaugh:

Things I am funny about:

Manners (worlds biggest nag over here... but people compliment my children often on their manners)
Jumping on furniture
Sitting on Tables

I don't really have a problem with guns... but it depends on how they are used... I don't mind water pistols and I guess if toy guns were used I wouldn't mind because I think bad vs. good is important in game play. Its like bratz, I would die if Paris dressed like those dolls. But we've had those conversations, and she agrees that the clothes are a bit too revealing and wouldn't look nice on a little girl. But she still plays with them because she thinks they are cool looking for a doll. And the same would go for Seth and guns IMO there is no difference between a kid playing cowboys and indians, cops and robbers or spiderman vs dr octopus... the only difference between the three is that we associate the bow and arrow as violent, the gun as violent... but what can you ban with the last one their imagination? Kids will be kids! Its not about the toys or what kids play but how we as parents interact and educate our children. If Paris is playing in a way that concerns me we discuss it, and even if she's playing in a way I'm happy with we discuss it.

Anyway a bit OT but I just had to throw that one in ;)

*hugs*
Cailin

Cai we are very similar ;) Manners are an absolute must for me & Zander knows that already. Lounge jumping is totally out, but beds are ok for me. Sitting on tables is also out, but sitting on the bench to help cook is ok when they're little.

Manners are definately a must and they sound so cute. Yasin says teeta and it makes me go all squishy.

My sis and i were jumping from bed to bed when we were kids and she slipped and cut her head open on the corner of the bedside table. There was blood EVERYWHERE and I had to follow her around and clean it up while mum iced her head and called the doc!

I have a general rule about no jumping on the couches, but then today Ash and jaiden (11 months) somehow started a game involving taking the cushions off the couch and hiding under them and then ash dragged out blankets and hid and jaiden would try to find her and they were hysterical and it was too cute to bother stopping them!

Mum was the same with days off school, not so much primary but high school. Because she let us take a day off every now and then we didn't abuse it because we respected her for letting us have that option. My sis and I both did great at school and never needed to be pushed to achieve what we wanted to.

Ashlea and I often throw rules and routine out the window, some nights we drag the tv into the bathroom and watch a show while in the bath eating icey poles together

Or we'll start painting or something and end up painting each other until everyone and everything is filthy

If im in the right frame of mind i dont mind us making a huge mess and then having to clean it up, but if i have alot on my mind or am busy or stressed then i wont do it

OOOH YES Manners... Indah says peas, so cute & Tank coo...

My girlfriend i sthe totall opposite her kids spit inside, punch, kick, bite take a piece of food & walk throughout the house eating, spitting & spilling it everywhere, they leave half eaten food & cups of drink all over the place...

They do use the manner words & are not allowed to say 'bum'... It is toosh & not to be anything else!

Indah taps on her bum & says bum, bum, bum!!!
My girlfriend tells me off for letting her use such a word... I just look at her in disbelief as her kids have no idea how to sit down eat & put dishes in sink etc they are 9 & 7!!!!

I hate food in bedrooms & so do not allow any child to take food out of our lounge/kitchen area unless it's outside, I also ask them to either sit up at the table or they can sit at the lounge coffee table...

People all parent differently & I have never once said to her "your kids are pigs!" But I dont let them take food into the bedrooms...

* Jumping on beds - My Kids always jump on my bed. Our mattress is stuffed anyway, so we don't mind and quite often attack them on Sundays then have a mass play fight on the bed. ..... Jumping on lounge however is defintely not on.

* Blowing bubbles in milk - This definitely happens in our house, but when the noise starts to drive me insane then I ask them to drink it properly LOL.

* Water fights in the house - Nope no water fights in our house, and we are fully lino. If the floor is wet you can guarantee Lachlan will find the wet spot, split and hurt himself so water fights is outdoors only.

* Days off school - I never was allowed a day off just for the sake of it, but I have plenty of friends who do let their kids have days off. I will probably be like my mum and make the kids goto school

Love

I hope I'm a fun mummy too!!!

Thinking back, there were a lot of un-fun rules in our house, even though when we're all at home now, it seems like the funnest place ever, and my Mum is a very 'young-at-heart' person now.
Some of our rules from childhood:
- no singing at the table (WTF????)
- no sitting on the benchtops
- no jumping down the stairs (admittedly, I did this all the time, including the night of my formal, dressed up to the nines with my partner at the bottom of the stairs waiting for me ... and jumped a bit too high, smacking my head really hard on the overhanging mezzanine floor thingy)
- definitely, definitely no days off school ... EVER! Even if we were sick, we would get 2 panadol put in our lunchbox and sent off to school. I often wonder if this is why I got to work when I am sick now, even if I've gotten out of bed and thrown up with a migraine, I will take a couple of aspirin and go to work. Crazy lady I am ;)

One thing which Mum used to let me do, which constantly surprised me, was after I came home from a walk/jog/tennis (in late high school) she would enocurage me to jump in the pool, fully clothed, to cool off. I loved it!!

LOL, Cherie, we had no singing at the table, no elbows on the table, no arguments at the table (or else I had to eat alone in the conservatory), no being rude at the table (or else I would eat alone again)... my dad was strict with table things.

Oddly enough, if I wanted a day off to skive school that was usually OK, but if I were ill then my mum wouldn't even give me the drugs for my lunchbox! Or take me to hospital for a broken arm. (See me now, completely anti-drugs and have to be ordered home from work because I collapse LOL.) I think this was because when I was younger and ill my mum had other people to think about, but when I was older and wanted a day off I could just look after myself at home.

How great is this, its making me reminise.
I grew up with 3 sisters oldest are twins, then another sister, then me. My parents were strict with sum things and fun with others, but I like their parenting style and Im gonna parent the same way.

Jumping on beds-No but we do wrestle.
Swinging on the clothes line-Absolutely, we did it , 1 girl on each corner, the 'hills hoist' was totally balanced so it never got lopsided, dad would spin us really fast.
Blowing bubbles in the milk-Isnt that what milk is for?
Water fights inside-No, outside is fine though, watermelon seed fights in summer are good fun, see who can spit the furtherest. We used to throw buckets of ice water on each other in the shower also.
Balls inside-Depends where,if its safe. We had a long hall growing up and we used to play dodgeball, marbles and sometimes 'baby' cricket down it.
Manners are a big YES. Xander doesnt get anything without a please or thankyou.
Days off school are a big NO. Nick was a terrible 'wagger', and I dont want my boys to have any leeway with days off incase they turn out like him.LOL

* Jumping on beds - NO WAY. My niece has quite a nice scar between her eyebrows as a result of doing just this. Her and her sister were jumping on their mum's bed and she fell, hit her head and split it open. There was blood everywhere and it was quite a traumatic experience for her and especially for my older niece, who was covered in blood and really distressed.

* Blowing bubbles in milk - why not? I don't see a problem with this at all. Don't all kids do it?

* Water fights in the house - no way. I'm another one that has tiles everywhere and it is just waaaaay too dangerous. My DD has actually slipped over when the floor has still been a little wet from mopping it. Water fights are for outside.

*Days off school - I'm pretty flexible on this one. As long as it didn't happen too often, I'd let her stay home. BUT I think faking the illness is part of the fun and I'm sure my mum always knew!! LOL!

Lol Fletch! At least i'm not the only member of the fun police!!! And yep - i think we will have other things to worry about later on (PMSL at Trace's comment :D)

Jillian, it is funny how little boys are so often drawn to guns isn't it. I read somewhere and kind of agree that making them out of sticks etc is an act of imagination but a toy gun can't really be imagined to be anything else.

Chloe, my sister is ALWAYS talking about that. She's a teacher (from birth to Yr 3) and she hates the toy kitchens etc, cos it means they don't use their imaginations. She much prefers blocks & things like that where they have to use their imagination. As a result Zander has loads of blocks etc ;)