31 Photos That Prove Life As A Parent Is Basically One Big Mess

Hide the baby powder.

Baby powder. Flour. Glitter. Vaseline. Hersheyā€™s Syrup. You may not realize it but these are all dangerous, dangerous substances when paired with a mischievous child.

We asked the HuffPost Parents community to share their most epic kid messes ā€• the ones that took them hours to sweep, vacuum, mop and/or scrub up.

Keep scrolling to find out which substances to keep out of reach next time you dare to take that shower or nap.

1
Kids. Vs. Beanbag
Marji Craft
"They opened the foam-filled beanbag. Still vacuuming a year later."
2
Kid Vs. Flour
Sarah Pineda
"My daughter Camila and one of her biggest messes! Flour is now banned from our house."
3
Baby Vs. Food Coloring
Sam Navarro
"His sister colored him so pretty with baker's food coloring. It took wayyyy too long to fade away!"
4
3-Year-Olds Vs. Red Lipstick
Kelly Mulder
"My friend and I caught our 3 year-olds red handed -- literally! We all learned that long-lasting lipstick is a bear to get out. Only Dawn dish soap worked to get most of it out."
5
Twins Vs. Baby Powder
Kathryn Moore Sanford
"My twins emptied an ENTIRE bottle of baby powder all over each other and their room....it took days to clean it all up!"
6
Kid Vs. Baby Powder, Part II
Kasey LIttler
"My son decided it needed to 'snow' inside. House smelled of baby powder for weeks."
7
Kid Vs. The Wall
Katie Cline Weinberger
"Basically EVERY other wall on this floor is chalkboard paint except for this one šŸ˜¬šŸ˜³šŸ˜‚"
8
Kid Vs. Diaper Cream
Kelli Walsh
"Desitin diaper CREAM. Layers and layers of it...in her eyeball, hair, and EVERYWHERE. Took a good week or two to wash it all away!"
9
Kid Vs. Red Marker
Becky Walters Anderson
"Marker. Even though it was washable, it still took a few times to wash it completely off. šŸ˜•"
10
Twins vs. Aquaphor
Kelly Bossley
"The kids got into the Aquaphor while we were at a holiday party and a sitter was 'watching' them. They smeared a full giant tub on nearly every surface of their room (including linens and clothes from the dresser) and of course all over themselves.

While it took hours to fully clean the walls, furniture, linens and clothing, it literally took days to de-grease their hair. In the end, it took more washes than I care to remember with pretty much every substance known to modern man before their hair was blonde again and no longer stiff. Needless to say, we have never used that babysitter again and I am grateful that their 3rd birthday pictures were taken before they decided to party with the Aquaphor."
11
Kid Vs. Hershey's Syrup
Dottie Frye Jones
"An entire bottle of Hershey's syrup all over his room. Somehow he got it on the ceiling as well."
12
Kid Vs. Craft Supplies
Sarah Holmes
"I popped to the loo and in the 30 seconds I was gone, my 3-year-old emptied numerous bags of craft supplies all over the floor and proceeded to roll around in it. Worst thing was that the vacuum wouldn't pick any of it up (the sequins and tiny bits of shiny paper stuck to the carpet, and the feathers and balls were too big) so I had to pick it all up by hand."
13
Kid Vs. Shaving Cream
Jennifer Sherman
"Shaving cream from one end of the house to the other. I couldn't even be mad because when I first saw her she said 'BOO!'"
14
Kids Vs. Shredded Paper
Shannon Shrock
"Where was I when this happened? Cluelessly downstairs enjoying listening to their laughter and squeals. Took four adults two hours to clean up. Of course we had the munchkins help too. Bags and bags of shredded paper all over two rooms and the hallway."
15
Kid Vs. Baby Powder, Part III
Brenda Gayle Massey
"Poured the Baby Powder EVERYWHERE. And he was SO proud of himself!"
16
Kid Vs. Diaper Cream
Kate Puleo Unger
"My son was supposed to be taking a nap, and then it got eerily quiet. I found him like this! Diaper cream all over himself. I guess the bed was too close to his dresser. Oops! Instead of a nap, he got a bath. And he got me laughing instead of yelling. How could I not? He looks ridiculous!"
17
Kid Vs. Couch
Tracy Flindall
"My 3-year-old found the tiniest hole in couch...."
18
Kid Vs. Markers
Whitney Hanners
"Marker Madness šŸ™ˆšŸ˜³"
19
Kid Vs. Desk
Liesel Vasher
"Read: Mom's in the shower."
20
Kids Vs. Comet
Misty Sealy McDonald
"Comet! They managed to open the cupboard under the sink despite the child safety lock. I was in the adjacent room putting laundry in the dryer."
21
Kid Vs. Chocolate
Jessika Michelle Harris
"This was about 6 years ago but he found the can of chocolate milk mix and managed to get it open in the backseat."
22
Kids Vs. Styrofoam
Hiding In The Closet With Coffee
"This is what happened when I left my kids alone with the Styrofoam packaging from our vacuum cleaner...almost impossible to clean up because it stuck to everything. We found pieces for MONTHS."
23
Kid Vs. Lotion
Wendy Michelle
"Melody here with baby powder and lotion"
24
Kid Vs. Flour
Megan Thompson
"Lots, and lots, and lots of flour!!!"
25
Kid Vs. Hair Grease
Lydia Clark
"Oh yes. Hair grease. Everywhere. It took a whole bottle of Dove to lift that oil."
26
Baby Vs. Cold Cream
Liesel Vasher
"Big sister put cold cream on baby while Mom grabbed a cat nap."
27
Kids Vs. Mud
Marcy Drake Brown
"Found some mud at the bottom of a drained water tank. Thank God for hoses."
28
Kid Vs. Marker
Jacqui Lacey Desrosiers
"Marker. Even though it was washable, it still took a few times to wash it completely off. šŸ˜•"
29
Kid Vs. Desitin
Kristen Auchmoody
Kristen Auchmoody
30
Kid Vs. Lipstick
Teddi Bewernitz
"My first kid was so easy. Parenting was a piece of cake. I didn't really understand how much personality plays a role! My second does things just out of curiosity ... or something. She steals things she finds and takes them back to her nest, I mean room and then commences with messes during nap time. Lipstick, mascara, sidewalk chalk, sharpie, scissors (she cut all her hair off), shampoo, nail polish... and it doesn't just end up on her, it ends up on the whole room! Her carpet was toast."
31
Kids Vs. Baby Powder, Part IV
Meredith Rush
"While cleaning up dinner, my husband and I realized it was a little too quiet. As we walked up the stairs we noticed a bit of 'cloud' in the air. We opened our daughter's bedroom door to find her and her brother had been having some fun of their own šŸ˜². Yes. That's an entire large bottle of baby powder."

Before You Go

LOADINGERROR LOADING
Close

HuffPost Shoppingā€™s Best Finds

MORE IN LIFE