Bedtime isn't always the easiest time of the day when you have children, but the excuses kids come out with to delay it can inject a bit of humour into your evening.
Some of these strangest excuses kids use have been rounded up as part of a small-scale study - the results of which show just how far children will stretch their imaginations in order to find reasons to get into bed that little bit later.
The study by online bed retailer Time4Sleep polled 1,000 parents and although it was small, the results were just too hilarious not to share.
The top 10 strangest reasons were:
1) There’s a mermaid under my bed.
2) I need to stay up until midnight because the clock told me so.
3) A banana spider was going to come through my window!
4) I need to eat toast in the bath first.
5) The fairies were in my bed.
6) I’m looking for aliens.
7) I have to grow a tree.
8) My teddies don’t want me in bed!
9) My cuddly toys keep looking at me.
10) My legs aren’t tired.
There were also some slightly less strange responses that you might be able to identify with more.
Other reasons included needing the toilet (29% of parents agreed their children gave this excuse) and being too scared to sleep (28%).
Wanting to stay up and play (8%), their bedroom being too bright or dark (7%) and not feeling tired (7%), were three more excuses children gave.
Jonathan Warren, director at Time4Sleep, said: "Sleep is very important to our health and wellbeing and it’s important parents are going to bed feeling relaxed in order to try and get the recommended seven to eight hours of rest each night.
"Bedtime is often a battleground for parents but the results of this new study of parents highlights the humorous side of excuses at bedtime."