I need a break from all this PERFECTION!

[Magpie]

So let's share some of our favorite Parenting Fails, and then let's embrace them as a badge of achievement, because they mean our kids are resilient enough to survive even OUR half-assed parenting.

Here's ONE of my Parenting Fails:

I let my son (now 13) watch the Fellowship of the Ring with us when he was five years old. The little tyke seemed to be enjoying the movie hugely until we got to the part at the inn where the Nazgul appear to murder the hobbits in their beds.

At which point we had to stop the movie and basically peel our hysterical child off the living room ceiling.

No nightmares, though... which I understand means I can't even claim it was an educational experience for the boy!

What's your favorite Parenting Fail? (If you don't have kids, your own parents' fails also count.)

 

[live4christp1]

LOL.....

Our DS wouldn't come in the living room to watch Fellowship of the Rings but would peer around the edge of the doorway in the hall. If it got scary he would retreat to his room. He went to school and told his K5 teacher that his mom and dad watched that rings movie and he told them to turn it off because it wasn't pleasing to Jesus but we wouldn't.

 

[live4christp1]

not necessarily a favorite but a miserable fail........

DS struggled with his 5th grade teacher. Ended up having her for 6th grade when they combined classes. Still struggled. I was always pushing him to do better/try harder/try to please her. She would meet me after school almost daily to tell me DS this or DS that. Always negative stuff. I thought DS was just being an obnoxious little boy and causing trouble. But then I realized, when she sent him to the tutor he wouldn't have any issues.....tutor would tell me.....he knows this, he doesn't need a tutor. One day DS broke down and said "mom.....it doesn't matter what I do or how much I do right, she never ever says anything about the good I do, she just always says bad about my work." After talking with several parents (one who was a teacher at the same school) I found out that this was a regular thing with said teacher, she would pick a favorite in the class and that one person could do no wrong but then everyone else was picked apart.

Made me really sad to think about all the pushing we had done to DS to do better and always siding with the teacher when I should have been sticking up some for my DS.

DS is doing well in 8th grade now. All his teachers both last year and this year always comment on what a well behaved boy he is and how polite and respectful he is. One this year told me she wished she had a whole room full just like him. So no harm done I guess but looking back it made me certainly feel like I had failed my child in a time of need.

 

[njmom47]

Middle child, dd, hs senior, did not take SATs...now she tells me she would really like to go away to college. So we've decided she will do a semester or 2 at the cc and we'll work on it from there. I did go to college so I know about SATs and all but thought she wasn't interested. Wrong assumption on my part. She is ok with it thought because she can live at home, has a part time job she loves, and not every one of her friends will be going away to school so she'll still have people to hang out with. She really is turning into an independent young lady and I guess that's also what I don't want to recognize (she's growing up, won't be around, etc).
Or should I write that dds have 5 tattoos between them that I signed permission for?

 

[tar heel]

My son took a film criticism class in high school and chose the movie "The Doors" to do a paper on. I had to sign a permission slip b/c it was rated R. I did this even though I had not seen it. Well, DH and I sat down with him and his girlfriend to watch it and I almost croaked. Either it pushed the envelope on R or maybe we ordered a version with extra footage . . . DH and I felt like we were watching porn with our son and his girlfriend.

He did well on the paper but all the re-watching of the movie had to take place when his little brother wasn't around.

 

[MoniqueU]

My husband took my then 1st grader to see a movie called the Ring. It is supposed to be alot worse then Fellowship of the Ring based on what my DD told the principal when getting sent to the office for threatening to kill a classmate with a robot. I guess she blamed it on her dad taking her to see that. She wasn't suspended or anything because the principal said that clearly her threats had no basis in reality! Since then I quiz my DH about what the movies are like before they go and DD often passes on them.

 

[Mermaid02]

I ignored a phone call from the school today- my son has an anxiety d/o and has been calling to come home early. HE HAS TO GO TO SCHOOL! My plan was to call and speak to the secretary, "Hey Julie, it's Loreli.... just missed the call, what did he need?" before I could my dh called me, seems the boy was just calling to ask to stay AFTER SCHOOL to help with technical work for the play. I suck.

 

[scrapquitler]

When I was subsititute teaching (back in 93/94) I had a first grade boy tell me that he watched HIS FAVORITE MOVIE last night....BASIC INSTINCT... he told me he liked that lady in the movie because she was pretty.

 

[Agri]

My parents had a major fail - I posted about it on another thread, but its so worth repeating.

My pediatrician always told my parents how bright I was and the fact that I was going through the stages quickly meant I would be smart - and ready for potty training early. So they get this yellow potty chair...that plays music. I'm their only child and those were still the early days when everything had to be really nifty and awesome for their princess and we had to have a bazillion pictures of every.single.event.

One day I tell my parents that I'm ready to go and they put me on the potty and I do my business just fine.

Then the music starts.

I jumped and ran out of the bathroom crying and they couldn't get me near another toilet for months. I was in diapers for another six months.

The offending potty chair was stuck in the garage and I've been told I wouldn't go in the garage until they finally got rid of it a few months after I started training again. I think they were hoping that once I got acclimated to a non-singing potty chair they could reintroduce the other as a spare.

 

[DisneyScraps]

I have put my DD in timeout on the stairs and forgot about her. After a while I would hear a small voice saying....."Mama????"

Not going to get the mother of the year for that. Luckily we moved and there are no staris and at 10 she doesn't need time outs any more.

Lisa

 

[mamacatnv]

Oh my, where to start
Could it be the time a kicking, temper tantrum throwing DS 4 slipped out of my grasp broke 4 little bones in his foot. The time I packed what I thought were DD's 12 antibiotics for a weekend trip to a relatives and turned out they were DH's pain pills which we learned after she took 2 full doses, or the time a friend and I dropped our DS's 12 at the arcade, went upstairs to the bar and had a drink while they had a total meltdown because they "didn't know where we went".
Then there is the time DH and I both forget DS at preschool...........

 

[GoofyBaseballMom26]

Oh my, I'm going to have to think about which "loser" parent moment I'm actually willing to tell... believe me there were plenty. I know what you mean... surely some of the parents on this board can't be as perfect as they claim to be.

And this has nothing to do with trying because I really tried and worked hard trying to be a good parent but I failed miserably at times.

 

[Bonnie151]

When DD was 3 we "accidently" took DD on ToT at DLP. Fortunately it didn't have any nasty long term side effects - it was one of her favourite rides at WDW when she was 5!

 

[Magpie]

Since everyone's being so generous (and occasionally hilarious), I'll add another one...

My husband was on a business trip, and I completely forgot to feed the kids dinner!

I tucked them into bed and was reading them a bedtime story, when my daughter says, "Mommy, aren't we going to eat anything?"

I told her we were having a picnic in bed. And then I ran into the kitchen and threw crackers, cheese, and fruit on a big plate. Fortunately, the kids thought it was awesome.

 

[erincon23]

I ignored a phone call from the school today- my son has an anxiety d/o and has been calling to come home early. HE HAS TO GO TO SCHOOL! My plan was to call and speak to the secretary, "Hey Julie, it's Loreli.... just missed the call, what did he need?" before I could my dh called me, seems the boy was just calling to ask to stay AFTER SCHOOL to help with technical work for the play. I suck.

No, you don't suck. My son is going through the same thing right now (freshman in HS). He's getting better, I think. While he doesn't call to come home as often, he has many excuses to stay home in the morning. I know you're thinking "if I don't answer the phone, he'll eventually give up and go back to class," and that's valid! Don't feel bad because the one time the phone is ringing with good news you didn't answer! Be glad that there was that one time!

Just one of mine -- when DS18 was three, I locked him and the keys in the car. Ended up having to call the police to come and open the car door (fortunately, the car was in my garage, not in a parking lot somewhere!). He was cool with it until he realized that I was getting upset, and then he started to cry. He had always been so good about not trying to get out of his car seat, so he had never learned to do that.

 

[Mermaid02]

No, you don't suck. My son is going through the same thing right now (freshman in HS). He's getting better, I think. While he doesn't call to come home as often, he has many excuses to stay home in the morning. I know you're thinking "if I don't answer the phone, he'll eventually give up and go back to class," and that's valid! Don't feel bad because the one time the phone is ringing with good news you didn't answer! Be glad that there was that one time!
Just one of mine -- when DS18 was three, I locked him and the keys in the car. Ended up having to call the police to come and open the car door (fortunately, the car was in my garage, not in a parking lot somewhere!). He was cool with it until he realized that I was getting upset, and then he started to cry. He had always been so good about not trying to get out of his car seat, so he had never learned to do that.

Thanks! It's hard isn't it? Jack also does that in the morning- it's so hard to get him there on time!!! He's in 8th grade.

 

[MomofKatie]

I let my 10 year old DD walk around for a week with both bones in her forearm broken. She fell while playing in the yard, and ran in crying. DH and I checked her out, had her wiggle her fingers, and told her it was just twisted. We got a wrist brace for her to wear until it felt better. She wore it for a week (played a few soccer games in it, too...), then had her annual checkup at the peds office. I asked her Dr to tell her to take off the brace, since she didn't complain of pain anymore. Dr checked arm and told us to go to the hospital for xrays. Found out it was broken and got casted the next morning.

DD got lots of ice cream out of that one!! I felt so guilty for not taking her to the Dr right away.

 

[LisaR]

Major parent fail alert.

This past Halloween, DS (13) insisted he wanted to go to a haunted house. My son just isn't that kind of kid. We tried and tried to talk him out of it (DD was going and he wanted to, as well). My son is PDD-NOS (on the spectrum) but you would never know it most of the time. He has come such a long way.

I let him go. OH MY! He completely freaked. He froze in a corner while all these creatures came after him. He started flapping (something he hasn't done in years) and making this sound that I will never forget. I grabbed him, buried his head and one ear in my neck, blocked his other ear with one hand and started shoving my way past all the creatures. I had my arm out like a football player and anyone that wouldn't stop was shoved aside. It was the longest four minutes of my life.

Who the heck takes an autistic kid to a haunted house???? Stupid, stupid parenting move. I should have put my foot down and told him NO.

I was certain he would have nightmares and end up in our room but he never did. He did have a few minor things crop up but they only lasted a week or so. He has made it clear that he will never step foot in a haunted house again unless it is the Disney version.

 

[minkydog]

I think my very worst, and potentially dangerous fail happened last April on sprink break. We had driven our camper all day and had finally set up and started supper. We sat down to eat and I grabbed Christian's meds and gave them to DH to administer. A few minutes later DH says,"What's this long green one for?" Green one? Christian doesn't take a green one. OMG I handed hubby MY meds--antidepressant, 2 mood stabilizers, cholesteral drug and sleeping medication. This on top of DSs regular 3 seizure drugs.

A quick & frantic call to Poison Control revealed that we had not seriously overdosed the kid. The PCC customer service rep did ask if he was still standing. He was, but not for long. I managed to get him into the camper and dressed in his PJs before he literally passed out on his feet. I stuffed him into his bunk and that was the last we heard from him for about 14 hours My other kids fondly refer to this as The Time Mom Tried To Off Our Brother

 

[KarenB]

I sent my oldest DS to preschool with chicken pox ( years ago). Then a few years after that I got extremely irritated with him because he was being such a stick in the mud only to find out he had mono. I made special meals for practically every meal for my youngest because he was such a picky eater.

However, they are both great young adults now