My biggest parenting meltdown.

[hrh_disney_queen]

My kid has slowly been wearing me down over the years, but last week I experienced my biggest parenting meltdown to date. Here's how it all went down...

We were on vacation in Yosemite and had just completed a hike. I was sitting in our rental car, speaking with a friend who was covering for my business. She was having computer issues and I was helping her through them. My son was just outside the car, playing in the snow. I heard a loud bang on the side of the car, followed by another…then another. I looked out to see what was going on. It was my darling snowflake (he's a teenager) throwing snowballs at our rental car. I rolled the window down and told him to stop throwing snowballs at the car. Of course the word “stop” has the opposite effect and the snowballs begin striking the car at an even greater pace. I roll the window down again and tell him that any damage done to the car will be coming out of his savings. Of course this does not stop him. The kid is loaded. He doesn’t care about losing a few bucks.

I roll the window down a third time, becoming angrier by the second, yelling at him that if he doesn’t stop….then it happens. He hurtles a snowball through the rolled down window, striking me on my face and ear, then exploding all over the interior of the car. I have never felt such anger, mixed with icy pain, in my life. I hang up with my friend without saying goodbye, jump out of the car, and begin running over to him. In the process, I slip and slide on the icy pavement, almost falling. This brings out delightful laughter in my kid, as he is thoroughly entertained by dad’s instability, both physically and mentally. I finally reach him and grab him. I begin shaking him while asking all sorts of intriguing questions that I know he will never answer. “What is wrong with you?” "Are you deaf?” "Do you not understand that they are going to charge me for what you are doing if there is any damage?” Of course in my anger, the queen mother of cuss words was being interjected throughout my tirade.

The whole time, he had a smile on his face, knowing that he had once again pushed the correct set of buttons in the correct order to chip yet another piece of dad’s sanity away. It was only after I finished my angry rant that I finally looked up to notice the horrified faces of the good families who were shielding their good children’s ears from my tirade. I told my kid to get in the car. I knew we had to get away quickly, in case someone had called the proper authorities to save this poor child from his out of control dad. Of course, he refused to get in the car. I said fine and began driving away. He then gave chase, as the horrified onlookers gazed on. Finally, I stopped and let him in, against my better judgment. All in all, my finest parenting meltdown.

I'm not interested in judgments. I know I am neither a good parent or good person. I am just curious if anyone else would like to share their parenting meltdowns. If so, this is the place.

No judgments, but is it ok if I .

This post will go down in history in the company of "The Monster Under The Seat".

Thanks for letting me know that I am not the only parent who has those meltdowns. With an audience.

 

[hereyago]

Well, the next day, I pick up my little "Sybil" from school and he excitedly tells me to check his grades online.

Whoever invented the grades online thing rocks!!!!!!!! Seriously, it started this year with DD's first year in middle school. It scares her that I know what homework she has and that I can look at any time and see her grades. She has become an honor roll student so far this year!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Wall-E1]

Whoever invented the grades online thing rocks!!!!!!!! Seriously, it started this year with DD's first year in middle school. It scares her that I know what homework she has and that I can look at any time and see her grades. She has become an honor roll student so far this year!!!!!!!!!!!

I agree. It's excellent being able to see their grades in real time, and see all their upcoming assignments. Also, when my snowflake starts telling me his tall tales about how his teacher never told him that or taught them that, I simply click the teachers name and begin typing an email to that teacher relaying his accusations. I have never had to send the email. He always comes clean when he realizes that he has been outsmarted.

 

[hrh_disney_queen]

Wall E I can never tell when you are telling a true story or pulling our legs. This was great. I appulad you in either cases

Please say it's not made up! I want it to be true!

 

[hrh_disney_queen]

ha-ha! I can't wait for my boys to have kids - "what goes around, comes around" - which DH & I can't figure out, since we really weren't problem children for our parents.

I was a pretty good kid, and my DH was a hellion. So now I have to pay for his transgressions with my two wild boys.

 

[Wall-E1]

Please say it's not made up! I want it to be true!

It happened, just as posted. I have had other parenting meltdowns, but none as big as that one. I had been with my kid 24/7 without break for the whole week and when I couldn't get five freakin' minutes to talk to an adult on the phone without him interrupting, I just snapped (well, the snowball in my ear helped me lose it also).

 

[Wall-E1]

I'll relay one of my happier moments from our vacation. This happened while we were in San Francisco. We were renting bikes for the day to tour the piers and ride over the bridge. Well, the clerk at the rental shop told my son that since he is under eighteen he must wear a helmet. My son first tried telling the clerk that he was nineteen (he's 14, but looks 12 at most). So, I listened as my son tried to get out wearing a helmet. He explained how he has ridden bikes for years and can do tricks, etc. The clerk tried to reason with my kid and explain that it’s the law. Finally, he begrudgingly put the helmet on, took off on the bike, and promptly wiped out on his first turn. There on the sidewalk was my son, dignity gone, tangled in the fallen bike. The clerk tried to show concern, but I could see on his face that he was feeling the same joy as me. These are the types of memories that I cherish.

 

[perdidobay]

We do have a law here in Florida that allows parents to drop their unwanted children off anonymously, in front of any fire station, without fear of prosecution. I have read of several instances where young mothers have given up their babies in this way. I need to find out if there is a cut off for age, or if I can abandon my teen at the fire station. The only issue I may run into is that my kid speaks and knows his address/phone number.

 

[RNMOM]

You acted like most normal parents would. Next time....just put the car in gear and move it. Let him follow you around the parking lot if you have to or even leave him there for five min. or so.

A lesson I read early in my kids life and is sooooo true is that kids only behave to get attention. They often don't care if it is good or bad attention. Hence, if you either give the attention right away or completely ignore the behavior and remove yourself from the area you can bypass the melt down. I don't have a clue what your little snowflake wanted at the time he was pelting you with snowballs but moving would have been my choice I think.

You aren't abnormal nor are you abusive. We all have done this or been on the brink of doing it.

 

[yoopermom]

The best advice I ever got was that PARENTS need a timeout just as often (if not more so) than CHILDREN do!

Don't worry, we've all done worse!
Terri

 

[Pastamom]

This is way too funny My DS's are 8 and 10 and I'm not looking forward to the next 10 years of their lives..The battles between them (which they want me to referee because they other is ALWAYS in the wrong) are becoming increasingly frequent.

This morning the first words out of DS8's mouth were "good morning Sleeping Beauty" to DS10...(now IMO I kind of think DS10 would be justified beating DS8, but can't say that)

All I said to DS8 was "I don't have time to take you to the hospital today so you might want to watch what you say and do"

I have a feeling that I'll be saying that or something similar to that (in between blow-ups) a lot

 

[marypoppinswannabe]

wow...OP, that story was really funny... as were all of the stories after that....

My mother was yelling at my older brother who was 17 at the time (who was much larger than she was) and was shaking her finger at him. While she was yelling at him, he leaned down and kissed her finger. She was so stunned that she fell out laughing. That is one of her most cherished memories of my brother growing up.

Another one, that is equally as funny, was my father betting my sister that she could not stand on both rails of the train track at the same time.
He was so sure of himself that he drove her down to the train tracks to prove it. He was so mad when they got back that he slammed the door to his bedroom and broke the doorjam. But, my sister got the money for the football game that night and got to stay out after the game. It was so funny and we all (including my dad) laugh about to this day.

 

[Wishing on a star]

It happened, just as posted. I have had other parenting meltdowns, but none as big as that one. I had been with my kid 24/7 without break for the whole week and when I couldn't get five freakin' minutes ....

OMG!!!!! Too many men who refuse to 'get' what their wife goes thru with the kids 24/7 kids thing need to have a similar experience!!!!

 

[Maleficient]

We have the same law in NY - and people have been known to drop older hellions off - one whole family of them once! and you're my hero for following through on the door!!!

 

[RachelR1978]

Most here seem to think this situation is funny. I see it as the teen having very little respect for his dad. Wonder why that is? Could it be the 'parenting style' is IGNORE, IGNORE, IGNORE until you snap?

 

[Rainwater]

I'm not interested in judgments. I know I am neither a good parent or good person. I am just curious if anyone else would like to share their parenting meltdowns. If so, this is the place.[/QUOTE]



No judgement here, just an observation. You have some really terrible kids. At the age they are, it is probably to late to correct them. Just some more problems for the rest of us to deal with. Thanks.

 

[Liberty Belle]

I'm not interested in judgments. I know I am neither a good parent or good person. I am just curious if anyone else would like to share their parenting meltdowns. If so, this is the place.

No judgement here, just an observation. You have some really terrible kids. At the age they are, it is probably to late to correct them. Just some more problems for the rest of us to deal with. Thanks.[/QUOTE]

Back up the truck. He has some really terrible kids?! That's incredibly rude. I'm sure it's too late to correct you, but that was way out of line.

 

[curious3069]

FYI, Rainwater, that was a judgement and a snarky one at that.


Back to the topic. No kids, but I was a horrible brat during those early teenage years. Moody as all get out, disrespectful, the whole shooting match. My parents were not spankers at all, but there was a time or two that I got a smack on the arm from my mom...very much deserved too. It didn't cure anything but I'll bet she felt 100X better!!!

Amazingly, I am a contributing member to society today!

 

[Jeafl]

Just today I had taken my 17 year old son and 14 year old daughter to Kohl's to look at shorts for them and they could NOT get along for even 5 minutes. The non-stop picking on each other was really getting to me. Anyway, against my better judgment I left them alone outside the fitting room while I tried on a swimsuit that I just happened to see for myself.

In the 3 minutes I was in there they found those hooks that you use to reach high things down from the walls and were standing outside the fitting room having a swordfight with them! I could hear them banging against one onother and my daughter moaning that he had hit her wrist. I was so mad that I stormed out of the room, grabbed the hooks out of their hands and told them I was leaving them there to find their own way home. I then walked away and left them standing there with their mouths hanging open.

I actually did walk around the store for about half an hour. They kept texting me asking me where I was, and I didn't answer. They finally found me though so I had no choice but to give them a ride home. They are WAY too old for that kind of behavior, but I doubt things will change. Bored kids are never a good thing.

 

[iwrbnd]

Most here seem to think this situation is funny. I see it as the teen having very little respect for his dad. Wonder why that is? Could it be the 'parenting style' is IGNORE, IGNORE, IGNORE until you snap?

Have you ever parented a teen? More than one teen? I have 2 teens right now and one has been an agel while the other one... I had some moments with this kid I thought our family would never encounter because we are "good" parents with "good" kids! Well, that teen is older now and almost human again but when he was 14 and 15 I swear his brain was shut down or something! All I know, is I'll never judge another parent by the behavior of their child again!