20 Hilarious Parental Fails That Prove You Should Never Turn Your Back on Your Kids

Children are notorious for being mischievous. While it can be overwhelming for parents and guardians to clean up after the kids, their hilarious antics make for a good laughing session.

From swimming in a muddy puddle to covering their kitchen walls in chocolate, here are twenty times children left their parents dumbfounded with their decisions. While parents may question themselves in the heat of the moment, hilarious antics are often worthy of documentation and a good laugh when the kids are older.

1. Strawberries & Cream-Flavored Tablet

Mommy and daddy didn't want to turn on the tablet? No problem! This little girl continued playing with the tablet screen despite it being off. But instead of playing with an app, she started covering the screen with delicious strawberries and cream!

2. When Cash Turns to Trash

You've probably heard the term "from trash to cash," but what about "from cash to trash?" A couple was left speechless for hours when they discovered their savings shredded by their 2-year-old.

The young girl's parents had saved up $1,060 to purchase football tickets, but when they couldn't find the envelope, they found it in the most unlikely of places: the bottom of the shredder.

3. All Shiny and Slippery with Petroleum Jelly

A young boy startled his parents when he showed up, all covered in petroleum jelly. Washing him up definitely took a lot of soap and scrubbing, especially since he lathered himself with the waxy product from head to toe. The innocent look on his face, which clearly read, "I didn't do anything wrong!" made the incident even more hilarious!

4. Cleaning the Cake Mixer

While a mom was baking a cake, her sweet little boy decided to help her clean up—just not in the way she expected. When she turned to check the mixer, her son Jacob was busy "cleaning" the whisk by licking it clean!

5. A Perfect Day for a Swim

Cool summer days make the perfect day for a swim… even in muddy puddles, say these kids. A pair of siblings chose to get all dirty as they swam in a puddle of mud behind a couple of docked sailboats.

6. Chocolate-Coated Everything

Being a home baker is challenging, but being a home baker with kids in the house is another thing. This small business owner was in for the surprise of her life when she found her chocolate batter splattered on her kitchen walls and counter. The culprits? Her two children, of course!

7. Bubble Bath Gone Wrong

Kids love a good bubble bath, but sometimes, it can be a long wait before the tub is filled with bubbles. These three musketeers didn't want to wait, so they filled the tub with soap, causing it to overflow.

8. Blinded by Mud

According to this user, her cousin loves pigs. So when she saw pigs running freely on the muddy field, she joined in on the fun and started playing around. The young girl had so much fun that her blue shirt turned brown, and even her eyeglasses and face were covered in mud!

9. Helping His Best Friend

Dogs are a man's best friend, and this young child took that saying to another level when they made it easy for their German Shepherd friend to get some food. In a hilarious photo, the young kid is seen face-first inside a large plastic container once filled with dog food.

10. The Next Big Artist

This little boy made quite the artwork on the floor, which he covered in different colored chalk marks. The result? A large space that mom had to clean, and dirty clothes, diapers, and feet that all needed a good scrub!

11. A Sudden Bathroom Makeover

This young boy wasn't contented with drawing on himself with a permanent marker—he wanted to make more art! So he covered their bathroom walls, toilet, and sink with scribbles. When he was satisfied, he sat on the toilet with a big smile on his face. Mom and dad couldn't help but take a picture of the masterpiece and their little artist!

12. A Girl That's Faster than Lightning

This mom claims she looked away for two seconds only to see her daughter covered in food when she checked back. The little girl covered her legs with what seemed to be yogurt, which spread to their couch!

13. Bean Bag… but Without the Bag

While their parents were hanging out, three boys decided to play in the basement, which was not anything unusual for them. One particular weekend, however, they decided to do something out of the ordinary that forced them to call for backup: they ripped a bean bag open and scattered its contents on the floor!

With thousands of bean bag balls all over the basement, the parents spent hours cleaning it up. “It was nuts and completely unexpected,” one of the parents said.

14. Little Garbage Collector

One mama claims she left her son unattended for three minutes to find some clothes for him. She thought he'd be okay since there wasn't anything wrong he could possibly do around the house.

Little did she know, the little boy had his next activity planned: transferring the trash from the garbage bin to the toilet! His mom couldn't help but laugh off the situation and went straight to cleaning the little rascal up.

15. Did Anybody Hire a Painter?

A two-year-old was helping her mother repaint their living room when mama suddenly took a break to nurse her other baby. While mama expected her daughter Anistyn to stop painting, the little girl kept working.

Moments later, after her quick nursing session, Anistyn's mother found her smothered with paint from the neck down! It’s safe to say the little girl won't be helping in any other painting jobs anytime soon!

16. Time to Buy a New Makeup Stash, Mama

A mom was in for the shock of her life after her daughter decided to play with her makeup kit. Her daughter's body and face were covered in purple makeup, and so was the sink counter.

Mama's empty makeup containers were lying on the sink, along with a dirtied toothbrush, an uncovered mascara wand, and a few other items that needed a good cleaning.

17. Thanks for the Paint, Santa!

A little girl named Everleigh and her brother had wanted to paint for a while, but their mom banned paint because it usually ended up everywhere.

One Christmas, Santa gave the girl a paint set with paper in it. Everleigh didn't want to paint on boring paper, so she painted her face black instead.

When she realized she'd done something wrong, her brother had the most clever idea: to remove the black paint by painting her face with white paint to cover it up!

18. Mama's Makeup Artists

A mom had a surprise makeover from her little kids, who decided to put makeup on her one afternoon. They concentrated on putting brown-colored makeup on their mom, which they generously spread on her face and chest.

While her two older kids enjoyed putting makeup on her, her youngest child watched in amazement as her mom's look transformed thanks to her siblings.

19. A Daughter's Passionate Love

It's heartwarming for any parent to hear their children say, "I love you." For one little girl, saying it was not enough! She wanted everyone to know how much she loved her dad.

Thus, the little girl took a screwdriver and carved "I love my dad" on his car. It's safe to say she gave her family (especially her dad!) quite the heart attack after the stunt she pulled.

20. Good Intentions, Wrong Execution

For one kid, he didn't get to such a bad situation alone—he had his parents to blame. During the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, everybody had to stay home. That meant being unable to do certain things, like going to the barbershop to get a haircut.

One dad thought he could manage and just cut his son's hair. He got a razor and began shaving, but it didn't turn out as imagined. The young boy was in tears after seeing how his dad cut his hair.

Ultimately, the experience urged the dad to post a timely reminder on the internet, saying: "Please remind parents not to try and cut their children's hair during the #QuarantineLife. The guard fell off, but I stopped to snap this picture. #parentingfail #oldmanhair”

Raising children is no walk in the park. It entails a lot of responsibility but it can also be a hilarious journey of relatable parenting fails. When you feel like you're not doing a good job after a parenting failure, don't fret – it's more common than you think.

If you enjoyed reading up on these mischievous moments, you might enjoy these ten easy cleaning hacks that will save you the time you can spend keeping an eye on your kids instead!