41 Parents Reveal What Their Kids Are Hiding From Them

Kids are the wonders of this world. Nobody really knows what’s on their mind, as they often come up with some very questionable decisions.

Like hiding stuff from their parents for undetermined reasons. And by stuff, we mean anything from ravioli and tomato stem circles to photographs, mobile phones, and you name it…

Let’s see what else parents had to say when someone asked the question “What are your kids currently attempting to hide from you?” and posted it on r/AskReddit. And while the "why?" part of the question may forever remain a mystery to us, it’s still amusing to see what our little ones have been up to without us knowing.

#1

My 6 year old got out of bed early on Sunday morning to sneak downstairs and steal Monopoly money from the bank in the unfinished game from the night before which was left out on the table.

Image credits: robotron20

#2

Everybody’s kids here are hiding books to read secretly. Mine’s hiding in his bedroom trying to use a glue stick like lip balm.

#3

I thought my 15-year-old was diligently plugging the charger into her phone every night before going upstairs for bed...until I discovered she was actually plugging it into an empty phone case and taking her phone with her

To find out more about hiding behavior in children, Bored Panda reached out to Kimberly Koljat, a licensed marriage and family therapist who specializes in children 3–12 years of age and believes that anyone can benefit from the work of the creative arts.

Kimberly said that first of all, the context of hiding behaviors is extremely important for understanding a child’s needs. “Developmental age, what is being hidden, relationships, and communication skills are important considerations.”

For example, “If a teen is hiding something from their parents, like objects in their room, they could be playing out behaviors related to a developmental task of 'individuation,' or working on their sense of identity separate from their caregivers.”

Meanwhile, if a child is hiding a photo of their grandparents they cherish, it can be part of “a soothing skill to hold onto their memory related to grief if they passed, or to carry the feeling of them with them while they’re apart,” explained Kimberly.

#4

My kid is 5. She sneaks food under her blanket (wrapped snacks) for later and is always amazed when I find them.

#5

He has a crush on the babysitter and tries to draw hearts to give to her. He also proposed.

He is 6

Image credits: LucretiusCarus

#6

My daughter is trying to impress me by learning origami. She's 7 and doesn't think that Dad can see all the missing paper and the (messily but improving a lot) paper cranes hidden throughout her room. I bought 2 more reams of paper and just left them out on accident. Lazy old dad not putting up his office supplies.

If a younger child is hiding candy, it could deal with “children testing limits with their caregivers (an important part of development for some children, exploring what boundaries are in place).”

It also depends on what kind of objects your child is hiding, Kimberly says. “Hiding food can be an entirely different behavior, and it’s important to know if there’s previous traumas, such as food scarcity in the family, or if there are other behaviors related to food to consider that could be indicators of disordered eating.”

#7

The pez dispensers in his night stand. He eats them in secret pretty sparingly so I let it go.

He's 6.

Image credits: Sockbum

#8

My daughter has a picture of her mother and I on our honeymoon. Been "hidden" under her bed for a long time. We've been divorced over 4 years now. She still keeps that picture under her pillow every night. It's still there actually. I don't have the heart to take it from her. Too bad her mother is a cold hearted blood sucking two faced whore. Tough to see every time it I change the sheets.

#9

A few years ago, I was going through my son's (3rd grade) backpack and found a can of ravioli. That's all well, except I never bought any ravioli. When I asked him about it, he burst into tears and and pulled out a box under his bed filled with Ravioli! He then proceeded to tell me how this girl that picks on him and says they are married gives him ravioli everyday and makes him take it. I can just picture this girl's mother telling her the way to a man's heart is through his stomach.

However, if a caregiver notices a pattern of hiding behavior, parents should “never directly move to reprimanding or punishing a child or directly questioning a child about it.” Kimberly explained that adults' means of expression and conversations will most likely not yield the results they wish for because children work through difficulties in their play.

Kimberly suggests joining the child in play and leading a play session once a week with them. “The child may gain that sense of agency they could be seeking through the hiding behaviors and stop the behaviors outside the play sessions.”

Most importantly, parents should always stay curious about their child’s behavior. Kimberly urges parents to “spend some more positive time with the child to foster a greater sense of trust within the relationship.” In some more difficult cases, the support of a therapist may be the right solution.

#10

My two year old attempts to hide the family dog (who is 75 pounds) in various places in his room so that the dog can sleep in there with him. So far, I've found the dog in the closet, behind the curtains, surrounded by stuffed animals to "blend in," and on numerous occasions I've walked in the room to see a giant mound under the comforter at the foot of the bed. My son is astonished every single time that I have not only found the dog, but was even looking for him in the first place. On more than one occasion he even attempted to persuade me that he didn't even know we had a dog.

#11

My 6 year old son poops in the back yard every morning and blames it on the dog

Image credits: kitcha55

#12

I found a loaded one-shot Nerf gun under my 5-year-old daughter's pillow. When I asked her what she was doing with it, she whispered, 'It's for the tooth fairy

#13

We had a foster kid who hid about two handfuls of spaghetti with sauce under his pillow. We found it the next day while he was at school, cleaned it up, and never told him we found it. But we made sure to have spaghetti twice a week after that.

#14

My daughter throws her lettuce under the table for the dog to eat. The dog doesn’t like lettuce.

Image credits: IrksomePigeon

#15

My nine year old step daughter was in her room one day for like hours with markers and papers. I thought she was drawing or making a picture book or something so I let it slide. It turns out she had our calendar and was making cards for everyone for every holiday and birthday coming up. I haven’t asked her about it but I’m honestly super proud of her logic and long term planning abilities.

#16

My 3-year-old nephew opens a bag of Lay's and sneaks two chips, then sneaks two more the next day, and so on. I will never have that kind of self-control.

Image credits: imdungrowinup

#17

Himself. It's nearly bedtime. 2 year old thinks I'll forget to put him to bed if he runs into another room for 30 seconds.

#18

I just found out that my six-year-old locks the bathroom door so he can get some privacy. Last night I looked across the kitchen to see the door slightly ajar and my son engaging in his private time.

Doing push-ups.

I didn't say anything, just watched him finish his 5 reps, flex in the mirror and then walk out of the bathroom.

#19

My daughter has a stash of "candy" wrappers under her bed. She is 4 and thinks she's slick. The "candy" is dried prunes though. I put those in the candy jar because she kept stealing candy.

#20

My kid would get up in the middle of the night and want a snack. He would sneak into the kitchen and eat a whole tomato except the little circle where it connected to the stem.

He hid the little stem circles under whatever was on top of the trash and would go to sleep.

We always made sure there were tomatoes for him.

#21

Our son (9) is taking his marbles to school and screwing other kids out of their marbles. He's got a real hustle going on there. He's not allowed to take any toys to school, hence why he's hiding it. I checked his school backpack and found probably a kilogram worth of marbles in there. We are having a talk this afternoon.

#22

My 6 year old is gobsmacked that I know about the rolling around on the floor instead of schoolwork. No idea the teacher can reach me anytime..

#23

Conversation with daughter:

"Ok, so while I was changing your sister did you finish dinner"

"Yes daddy"

"ALL of it?"

"Yes"

"So if I look in the garbage can I'm not going to find any of your dinner in there?"

[Silence]

#24

Where her dad’s watch is. I know where she hides it. And I’ve seen her wear it pretending to be him. It’s so cute. I won’t tell my husband though.

#25

My 4 YO son is currently trying to hide that he pees his bed. His dad questioned him the other morning asking if he did and he said no... Even though we were holding his wet pants. When we asked whos pants they were he said "mommys." We asked again if he peed his bed and he said " no mommy did it". Little bastard

#26

My almost 2yo has started telling me crazy stories as if they are real. He recently told me that our dog rides a motorcycle to go play with her friends.

#27

Got a 12 year old and I definitely know his Reddit account cause the little turd used my email to sign up. Must not have thought that one through. I’m too scared to look at it though.

#28

She's slowly been collecting pens and hiding them in her toys. So far, no coloring outside of paper and coloring books, though. So I'm letting her get away with it.

#29

I have a bad drinking problem. I hide my booze but one day my daughter found it and will pour it out and replace it with water thinking it's the bottle not the liquid. So a few times a week I'll go to grab my stuff and realize it's just water after I take my first shot. I usually cry and will be sober for a day or so. I've never told her I know what she's doing because when I taste water that actually brings me joy knowing how much she loves me. I'm actually a really great dad to her and her doing that helps me put things in perspective

#30

My 22-year-old son starts work at 6:00 a.m. He left the house at 6:30 and came back thirty minutes later. I think he got fired.

#31

My daughter (who's 9) thinks she's being crafty hiding a book under her pillow to read after bedtime. I've known for about a year and let her have half an hour 'secret reading time' after she goes to bed.

Bit harder to know if she's not reading after half an hour now it's summer and she doesn't need to use a lamp, but I can tell if she's turned her lamp off in winter.

#32

When my son was 5 he stashed a bunch of blueberries under his pillow for later. Problem is, not only did they get squished night one, but he forgot about them until we changed his sheets a few days later. Ugh. Death.

#33

Fortunately my teenager (16, going on 17) doesn't try to hide much from me. She's a terrible liar and gets busted right away every time, so she just casually admits stuff these days. It's pretty great.

However, she's been sneaking her boyfriend over to the house during the day while I'm at work and thinks I'm clueless. Girl, I know you eat a lot, but there's no way you're going through half a loaf of bread by yourself in one day. You also left his glass of water on the coffee table...

#34

My 16 y/o had a box of condoms with a price sticker from the Dollar Store in his backpack, he left it on my passenger seat and they fell out while I was shifting it to the back seat. I went and bought him a better brand and replaced them. We have never discussed it Edit- Thank you all so much for the great feedback, parenting is no easy task lol. To clarify, we have discussed sex, I only meant that we've never discussed the actual switching of the condom boxes

#35

My 4 year old 'wrote' a letter she keeps in her bottom drawer. When me and my husband die she will come home and get it.

We're not allowed look at it or touch it but apparently it says that we gave her loads of money and she gave us loads of pictures.

I'm not sure what this says about her or us, but it will be interesting how long she keeps said letter. It's been a month so far.

#36

My two year old dropped out Echo dot and split into two pieces. She attempted to sandwich it back together and put it back where it was but now says stuff like "alexa play mickey mouse" and then when nothing happens she says "uh oh alexa what happen?" You know damn well what happen and it's HAPPENED.

#37

My 4 year old son just asked me how many coins I had on my desk. I said I didn’t know. He said he counted 6.

#38

Girlfriends kids (20 and 17) like to go work on the car together in the detached garage. Late at night. Yeah, pretty sure they're smoking weed. She likes to make them awkward by asking what they're up to. We see the 3ft bong you guys...

#39

My 12(m) son went on a double "date". My husband happened to be driving through town and saw the 4 of them together. I asked him and he said they "happened to be going to the same place". The mother of the other boy had the scoop and filled me in. I let my son know that he shouldn't lie to me and it is perfectly fine for him to be going on a double date - he apparently paid for the fries. I offered to drive him and the others somewhere if they wanted to go again.

#40

My oldest son has started, smoking weed.

What he doesn’t, know is daddy knows where the stash is and will continue to take some for, myself.

I’ll continue to take more and more until it becomes, painfully obvious and he gets the courage to bring it up to me.

#41

My daughter is too shy to tell me she started her period. I’m not going to embarrass her. We’ve had the talk, and she can come to me if and when she’s comfortable.

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