With schools closed for the pandemic and adults working from home, many parents are experiencing being home with their kids all day for the very first time.
What’s more, they’re stuck home with their kids in extreme circumstances, with parks and libraries closed, playdates off-limits, and not a break in sight — which has made for some dramatic situations.
These parents have been sharing their experiences online, from the funny to the exhausting to the mildly infuriating.
Some kids are getting into trouble, making new messes, getting slime stuck in their hair, or — in one case — cleaning a potty with mom’s toothbrush. Others are throwing tantrums, cutting their own hair, or demanding to re-watch Frozen for the umpteenth time.
BoredPanda collected some of the funniest tweets, Instagram photos, and Reddit posts that show what it’s really like to be a parent during the pandemic.
Home: With schools closed for the pandemic and adults working from home, many parents are experiencing being home with their kids all day for the very first time
Venting: These parents have been sharing their experiences online, from the funny to the exhausting to the mildly infuriating
Diversion: This parent’s four-year-old tried to distract from a spill on the carpet
Uh-oh: This dad’s son is going to be making a lot of noise with his new drums
Tantrums everywhere: Working from home is much harder for people with kids in the house
Brother for sale: This kid wrote a poem that rhymed ‘quarantine’ with ‘borintine’ and throwing Noah — presumably her little brother — out the window
More tantrums: Lots of kids have been throwing tantrums for silly reasons
Peek-a-boo! This mother can’t even get time alone on the toilet
Over it: This girl shared a clear message about her quarantine feelings
Bored: An eight-year-old sees lots and lots of boredom in the future
Looking bleak: Another parent got a portrait just in case the virus sweeps through the household
Not again: This mother learned really quickly that homeschooling wasn’t as fun as she imagined
Alphabetic mess: One kid practiced his ABC’s in the back of the car
Shh! Another homeschool lesson didn’t go so well when a kid unscrambled ‘tsih’ to be a bad word — instead of ‘this’
Lonely: A three-year-old made her own pet turtle out of chalk and demanded her parent pet it
Not again! Kids just keep crying for ridiculous reasons — though to be fair, some adults are doing that these days, too
They’re not stickers! Another kid seemed to think his mother’s pantyliners were for arts and crafts
Can’t blame her: A little girl named Ava was confused by the Reese’s Puffs photo — and we can’t really blame her
No potty: Another mother was thrown for a loop when her son pooped in the garden
Ouch! A whole lot of little girls are getting their toys stuck in their hair
Whoops! A three-year-old threw her toy at the TV one morning, and then couldn’t figure out why it wouldn’t work
Jealous: When a woman ‘bragged’ about being childless, a man responded that his three-year-old took a bite out of every slice of bread
Disaster: It’s bad enough that this kid decided to take a bath in the toilet — but she also threw mom’s tampons around
Phew! Thankfully, big sister didn’t trap her brother in the real oven
Mayhem: This man’s children flooded the bathroom during quarantine — and did so much damage that the basement ceiling had to be ripped out
Noooo! This little boy was sweet enough to clean his own potty — but used his mother’s toothbrush
A coup: These kids demanded new household rules and threatened to declare ‘war’ if the parents didn’t comply
He asked for it! This little boy actually asked his seven-year-old brother to give him an ‘old man haircut’ — but hey, it’ll probably grow back before he’s back in school
Can’t let it go: This mom’s kids are watching Frozen and Frozen 2 over and over again
Well that’s trash: It seems that this kid needs to master his candle-blowing technique
Ouch! This cutie’s parent said he was crying because he bit his own arm
Meow! Another kid pulled the vent out of the floor — and the cat ended up getting stuck inside
Mine! One child figured that utensils were a waste of time and grabbed a handful of brownie from the tray
It’s a look: Another little girl decided to give herself a haircut