Just tryin to get an opinion on what people think here. Would it be considered cheating to use 'pause the game and stick all the kids on one mushroom to boost your stats'?

It's a 'feature' not a _bug_, so I guess you could say you were just taking advantage of it. I do it all the time. It can sometimes be vital if your food level is very low and there are no berries or crops available. I suppose I could justify it as an urgent need, but less so if you just do it to boost the ststa.