messes made when children are left alone

One reliable piece of parenting advice is never to turn your back on your children, as proven by this hilarious set of photographs.

In a series of candid images shared by The Poke children are pictured making catastrophic messes in their homes.

The snaps see the children causing havoc with cans of paint, jars of peanut butter and bags of flour often leaving their parents' furniture beyond repair.

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A new series of photographs shared on The Poke show children making catastrophic messes in their homes

Despite the catastrophic mess left by their youngsters many of the parents - of course - find it difficult to ult to stay angry at their offspring as they pose innocently for the camera.

In some cases the little ones are so exhausted by their spectacular mess-making that their parents discover them sleeping peacefully among the wreckage.

For some of the parents the damage is a little more costly than others, with one image showing an iPhone covered in a sticky glue-like substance.

The images see the children causing havoc with cans of paint, jars of peanut butter and bags of flour often leaving their parents' furniture beyond repair

In many cases the little ones are so exhausted by their spectacular mess-making their parents discover them sleeping peacefully among the wreckage

For most parents they can at least give thanks to the fact that their kids have confined the destruction to their own home

However some have to suffer the embarrassment of it happening in public

In another photograph a laptop is decorated in what we can only assume to be scrambled eggs, whilst one particularly jaw-dropping image sees siblings adorning their entire sitting room, including the TV, in a thick coat of white paint.

For other parents their possessions become the least of their worries as their children choose to decorate them rather than their belongings.

For other parents their posessions become the least of their worries as their children choose to decorate them rather than their belongings

Grandad makes a fun sticker book (left) and a dozing dad (right) makes quite the canvas for his son

For some of the parents the damage was a little more costly than others, with one image showing a laptop covered in crumbs

And this iPhone covered in a sticky glue-like substance

This peanut butter fan forgot to leave any for mum and dad

And this sofa made the perfect cloudscape for two imaginative little chaps

A dozing dad makes quite the canvas for his two spritely sons,who have adorned him with glitter glue and given him a tattoo sleeve created from marker pens.

And one very patient grandfather sits painfully still as his granddaughter proceeds to decorate his face with Peppa Pig stickers.