Parenthood

New Warning! Don’t Throw Slime at Each Other!

Or someone may end up losing their hair

Making and playing with slime is fun — and it’s messy — oh, and slime is not good for hair!

Slime time

A few years ago, my granddaughters were into playing with slime — store-bought or home-made— a fad that thankfully didn’t last that long. They would play with it for hours, stretching it over a table creating a huge bubble, or adding beads and other textures to it, and just letting their imaginations run wild.

However, my daughter-in-law undeniably despised the stuff and hoped they would soon get over their obsession with it.

When the girls felt creative and wanted to make it from scratch, we did it at my house. They were allowed to bring it home as long as it was properly contained, especially being the home-made stuff was a little stickier than the store bought.

During one of my visits to my daughter-in-law’s house, my granddaughters and their friends decided to play with some containers of various colors and textures of slime which were kept neatly in a row on one of their toy shelves.

Although reluctant, their mom gave in allowing them to play with it cautioning them to keep it in a small area so as not to make too much of a mess. After providing them with aprons to cover their clothing and plastic to protect the table, she went upstairs to vacuum leaving them to their own devices.

The oldest, who was 9 at the time, and her sister 8, had each invited one friend for their play date while I kept the little one, who was 2, busy with books.

No one seemed to be paying much attention to what the older girls were doing after a while. They were busy, fairly quiet, having fun, and safely in the house. All was well for the moment.

A slime-throwing contest

As their laughter grew louder and more boisterous, I started suspecting something was up. It was the kind of giggling children do when they’re being naughty. In hindsight, I should have checked on them, but I didn’t.

Unexpectedly, one of the kids threw slime at another. It wasn’t long before they all joined in on the fun.

Something like a food fight but with slime!

They thought it was hilarious as it was hitting the floor, the toys on the shelf, the carpet, and their clothing.

However, when my 8-year-old granddaughter grabbed a handful of dark-pink homemade sticky slime and threw it at her sister, it immediately attached itself to a large chunk of her hair which started at the scalp and oozed halfway down her head.

No one was laughing now.

Barely able to see through the slimy hair she started screaming.

Upon hearing the commotion, their mom rushed downstairs to find her daughter standing in the middle of the playroom with a blob of slime on the side of her face.

She was furious. As she dragged the slime-laden child into the kitchen, she demanded the girls throw away every last bit of slime in the house whether they were playing with it or not.

“Don’t cut my hair off!” I could hear my granddaughter screaming from the other room.

By this time I realized what was going on, and ran into the kitchen after them, not knowing what I could do to help. That’s when I saw my daughter-in-law with a pair of scissors in one hand while holding onto the kid with the other saying, “If you’re going to fool around with slime you’re going to pay the price.”

I couldn’t bare to see my granddaughter lose her beautiful long hair and felt it was an extreme solution for a child who was already traumatized.

I offered to try removing the slime from her hair myself, even if it took all day, but it fell on deaf ears. My poor granddaughter was hysterical and in a half-cry screamed, “My eyes are burning, I can’t see. Please, Mom, don’t cut my hair off!”

Slithering the slime

Knowing one of the ingredients of slime is soap, I was sure warming it would put it back to a looser state enabling it to be removed more easily.

Her mom reluctantly agreed to turn me loose on the slimy hair, over the kitchen sink, using the hottest water we could stand.

It took about half an hour to slither the huge clump of slime down the strands of hair, piece by piece, while tolerating burning fingers and she a burning scalp.

No more slime in this house!

After everyone calmed down and the containers of slime were safely in the garbage, we started the daunting task of removing it from the playroom.

We were able to remove most of it from the furniture, which was a workout as some had to be scrubbed with a brush, but a few toys and some clothing were thrown away deemed unworthy of salvation.

My daughter-in-law’s new rule: “No more slime in this house, ever!” Then she told me, “If you make it at your house don’t tell me about it, don’t send them home with it, and don’t bring the girls home in ruined clothing! You make it, you keep it!”

“Okay, okay!” I agreed.

I can’t blame her for not being a fan of slime. After that day I had my fill of it, too. If I never saw the nasty, sticky stuff again it would suit me just fine.

An alternative to slime

Thankfully, the older girls stopped wanting to play with it after that, but then the baby asked me to make some with her. I cringed at the thought. I opted instead to buy her a big bucket of Play-Doh in little containers, which came with cookie cutters and a rolling pin. It’s old-school, easier to remove, just as much fun, maybe more, and she found it to be enough for her.

Finally, the slime phase in both our households was over. The extra bottle of glue I bought for the next slime-making day went for other projects, food coloring went back in with my baking stuff, the Borax was put back in my laundry room, and we never brought up making slime again.

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