A MUM who told a white lie to get her son into IKEA’s free creche has admitted she was left mortified when it came back to bite her in the bum.
The woman explained that she knew her child was too young to be looked after at the Swedish store’s Småland facility, which allows parents to leave kids from the ages of 3 to 10 while they look around.
A mum’s attempt to get her son into the IKEA creche, despite being too young, hilariously backfired[/caption]
IKEA offers customers’ children from the ages of 3 to 10 free childminding as they shop[/caption]
But, in a desperate attempt to get him admitted to the play area, she decided to “completely make up” his date of birth.
The lie worked, and she was able to put her son back into the creche the next time she went too.
IKEA employees give parents a ticket when they sign their kids into Småland, but she ended up accidentally losing it before she went to pick up her little boy.
When she told the workers she’d lost the ticket, they asked her for his date of birth – at which point she couldn’t remember the fake one she’d given.
Not only that, when they asked for the emergency contact details she’s left on file, she realised she’d given the number for her mum and dad, and their number was on her phone – which was in the car.
“So I said, like a normal adult, ‘Pull his pants down. He’s got Spider-Man boxer shorts on. Only I would know that because I put them on!’” she recalled during a phone call into Capital FM.
“She said to me, ‘I’m not allowed to pull his pants down’.
“So I get a bit angry and I said, ‘Pull that boy’s pants down!’”
The employee then went to get the manager and, when she came down, the mum asked her son to tell the store workers who she was, at which point he replied with “no idea”.
“So I picked him up, put him in the trolley, ran out of IKEA with two children’s wardrobes and a child!” she laughed.
And concluding the story, she admitted the tale is made all the more shocking as she’s a “serving police officer”.
“Will never be able to look at an Ikea creche the same!!” Capital captioned a video of the phone call on their TikTok page.
“The writers of Motherland are noting this down for a future episode I’m sure!” one person commented on the video.
“Hang on one hot minute??! IKEA have a Creche!!??” another gasped.
“Was no-one gonna tell me this??? how on God’s green earth did I not know this??”
“Demanding a stranger pulls your kid’s pants down is wild!” a third said.
UK Childcare Laws: What do parents need to know?
- What’s the law on leaving young children home alone?
- How old do children have to be to legally drink alcohol?
- Is it still legal to smack your child?
- How many hours can 16 year olds work?
While others used the comments section to share their own similarly hilarious tales.
“Many years ago, my son was being feral, screaming and crying…” one wrote.
“I was walking through town holding him and trying to remain calm whilst he was screaming ‘Help me! I don’t know this woman! she’s stealing me’.
“I was mortified. I was also (strangely) pretty angry that nobody intervened!”
“I was going through passport control with my two sons who have a different surname to me,” another recalled.
“Passport control asked my boys who I was and they turned round and said ‘we have no idea she kidnapped us!’, thinking they were being funny!!”
“I went to pick granddaughter from nursery forgot the password had to phone my daughter!” a third wrote.
“They shouted ‘Connie Nannie is here’, she ran up saying ‘I don’t know her’.
“Lucky me and my daughter look identical so they were happy for her to leave! They remembered me every time after that.”
