The epic bad parenting thread

[It'sWDW4me]

OK, I'm in. Two stories (of many, I assure you) come to mind:

1. DS is 15 months old. As soon as he's done with breakfast, I wipe him down and get him out of his chair. He's off and running. I grab his cereal bowl and take it to the sink (small kitchen - this is literally a 7 foot walk) when I realize that I didn't close the gate at the base of the steps. At this precise second, DS starts crying - he fell right in front of the steps. Close the gate, calm him down, get ready for work, take DS to day care. When daddy (we were married at the time but I just can't bring myself to type DH for the ex. Well, maybe I can - Demon Husband? ) picks DS up from day care, they tell him that DS, who is just starting to walk but still crawls a lot, was whining and holding his right wrist by the end of the afternoon. We figure he sprained it when he fell. Two days later, DH (remember - demon husband ) - after a major arguement over the phone with him insisting that I take the evening off from work while I maintain that I'm not using up vacation/sick time since he's home and done working for the day - takes DS to the ER where it is established that DS has a hairline fracture in his wrist. Apparently, he crawled up a few steps and then prceeded to tumble down said steps after breakfast that one morning. DS just loved everyone's reaction when he bopped us on the head with his splinted arm.

2. March 2002 - our very first extended-family (4 adults, 5 kids - 4, 5, 6, 12, & 14 yrs old) trip to WDW. DS is just shy of 6 years old. We're leaving DHS (MGM Studios, at the time). We stayed off-property and so had rental cars. Walk out of MGM and try to figure out where the heck to go to get the tram to get to our cars. Over here? Nope - no idea where those buses are headed. Here? Nope. There are busses stopped, cars driving past, oh... here comes the tram. Everyone get on - wait, I only see two shrimpies, where's the third?!?!?! WHERE'S DS?!?!?! Pictures of DS, head down, playing the handheld electronic game we just bought in MGM, blindly following behind someone else as they got onto one of the buses kept flashing through my mind. I'm running from the tram to the bus areas screaming for DS. Thank goodness the 14 year old actually kept her head (the only one of us to do so) and went back to the turnstiles. There was DS, looking around as if he'd just been plopped down in the middle of Times Square with the realization that he was "alone" slowly dawning on his face. We laugh about it now....

 

[jjarman]

I keep thinking of more times when I was a bad parent.

When DS was about 18 months old he saw me peeling an onion. He thought it was an apple and threw a fit for some of it. Well, he doesn't understand it is not an apple. Finally after about 5 minutes of him screaming for the apple I give him the onion. You should have seen his face.

 

[savannahcat]

Umm..my 6 yr old DD was sent to her room yesterday by DH because she ignored him when he told her to pick up her toys out of the floor. She told him to wait until her show went off. He said No, she said 'Fine, when the commercial comes on" DH turned off the TV, DD screamed at him, picked up 1 toy threw it down, picked up the TV remote, turned it back on and said "I'll do the rest later" So he spanked her, she's yelling at him the whole time so he just gets angrier and angrier and he sent her to to her room so he could calm down.

I go check on her a few minutes later, she's pulled every book off her bookshelf,every animal, pillow, blanket and sheet off the bed and is in the closet with the door shut. I tell her to come out and talk to me. "Nope, she's angry and wants to stay angry, don't want to apologize to her mean Daddy so just leave her alone in the closet" I tell her "Fine, stay in there all day, I don't care. Don't come out until you can apologize for yelling and AFTER you clean up your room Little Mrs. Angry Pants"

2 hours later, she comes out. she was crying because she was going to get in trouble because she couldn't figure out how to clean her room from the closet because I told her don't come out (she thought of the closet) until she was done.

Tonight I was a bad Mommy becasue I made her go to bed at 10:30 on vacation (school break) and wouldn't let her sleep with her sister. She's going to be eaten by monsters and then she'll go away forever. I told her "Sweet dreams, don't let the bedbugs bite"

Oh, and DH took 10 yr old DD to a roller skating rink. She fell fractured her wrist and DH and I didn't believe her becasue it only swelled up a bit. We made her play in her softball game that afternoon (Saturday) and didn't take her to the dr till Monday after school. Hey, she hit a homerun so it was worth it!!!

I, too am a bad parent. And I often do the angry laughing, especially when my 6 yr old DD ig oing toe to toe with my DH. She doesn't ahve the common sense to realize he's the windsheild and SHE's the bug. She thinks she's actually going to come out on top...silly girl.

I could have written this about my DD6 - this scenario plays out regularly in my household. I think she expends all of her energy being perfect in school and has none left when she gets home!

 

[disney_mommy]

When my son was in 2nd grade, I picked him up from school for a doctors appt. I was walking briskly to the car and he was lagging behind, as he is want to do, and I was fussing at him to hurry up. So I get outside and to teach him a lesson, I hide behind a pillar at the entrance to the school. I still remember the look on his face when he came out of the door and didn't see me anywhere. Sheer terror. I jumped right out and comforted him. I still have mom-guilt about that incident.

 

[Wall-E1]

When my son was in 2nd grade, I picked him up from school for a doctors appt. I was walking briskly to the car and he was lagging behind, as he is want to do, and I was fussing at him to hurry up. So I get outside and to teach him a lesson, I hide behind a pillar at the entrance to the school. I still remember the look on his face when he came out of the door and didn't see me anywhere. Sheer terror. I jumped right out and comforted him. I still have mom-guilt about that incident.

I had a similar experience with my son many years ago. I'm not sure if this would fit under bad parenting or just my son's own lack of intelligence. I was picking him up from school a little early for some appointment. He was lagging behind a little bit. Well, I get in the car and start it up. I look in my rear view mirror and my son is just climbing into the car.(At this point, I must tell you that I am a white man, and I was in my mid-thirties at the time). Problem is, it wasn't my car he was climbing into. Not even the same color car. Adding to this, the driver of that car is a black woman who looks to be about fifty. So, I get out of my car to retrieve my son. I watch as he takes his backpack off and buckles his seatbelt(he's such a good boy) in this stranger's car. The woman has put down the book that she had been reading, wondering who this stray white boy was. My boy, meanwhile, is just sitting there, looking out the window. He was a bit surprised to see his daddy come knocking on the side of the window. It was an awkward moment when I had to ask for my child back and explain to her that he was probably confused because of our similar appearance. She was able to see the humor in this. I'm sure somehow this happened because of a failure in parenting at some level. Somehow, I took so much time getting him to remember his address and phone number, that I neglected to have him memorize what I look like.

 

[Luv2Scrap]

I had a similar experience with my son many years ago. I'm not sure if this would fit under bad parenting or just my son's own lack of intelligence. I was picking him up from school a little early for some appointment. He was lagging behind a little bit. Well, I get in the car and start it up. I look in my rear view mirror and my son is just climbing into the car.(At this point, I must tell you that I am a white man, and I was in my mid-thirties at the time). Problem is, it wasn't my car he was climbing into. Not even the same color car. Adding to this, the driver of that car is a black woman who looks to be about fifty. So, I get out of my car to retrieve my son. I watch as he takes his backpack off and buckles his seatbelt(he's such a good boy) in this stranger's car. The woman has put down the book that she had been reading, wondering who this stray white boy was. My boy, meanwhile, is just sitting there, looking out the window. He was a bit surprised to see his daddy come knocking on the side of the window. It was an awkward moment when I had to ask for my child back and explain to her that he was probably confused because of our similar appearance. She was able to see the humor in this. I'm sure somehow this happened because of a failure in parenting at some level. Somehow, I took so much time getting him to remember his address and phone number, that I neglected to have him memorize what I look like.

Oh, that one is great! It sort of reminds me of my car story with DS13. He was about… maybe six or seven months old at the time, and we were leaving Walmart. During my shopping expedition, I had become terribly closed in by the car that parked next to me on the passenger side, which for some reason was the only side I could load DS into his car seat at the time. (Not sure why…) It was so bad I don't know how they didn't hit my mirror - they must have just missed it by less than an inch! So the only thing I could think of to do was to leave DS in the cart for a second while I hopped in the car and moved it over so I could put him in.

That poor kid thought I was leaving him there!! It never even occurred to me how it would look to him, or that he would even have the ability at that age to reason this out – mom is driving away without me. Wow, what a wake up call that was for me!!

So, picture this if you can: You are in a Walmart parking lot, and you see a car backing away from a little baby still sitting in the front of a shopping cart, and the baby putting up his hands to mommy and screaming bloody murder! Doesn’t look good, does it?

You wouldn’t believe how fast I had that car in park and was back over to DS, grabbing him and reassuring him that I would NEVER leave him there! I still feel bad about it!

(By the way, if the Tag Fairy messes with this thread and I get a new tag out of it, I will go to my grave swearing that someone else must have gotten into my account and posted anything and everything that may be found in this thread! I am a GOOD mom! )

 

[Arielle22]

I am a bad parent because I let my siblings watch my daughters.

One brother loved to throw them in the air and catch them as toddlers. With my older one he forgot about the ceiling fan and she got clipped.

Another brother always mad the children cry at family gatherings. He wouldn't mean to but it happened. Now that mine are older he terrorizes my nephew.

A sister smokes around them.

I also tell my DDs (14 and 16) that I can get rid of them and make another just like them.

On one occasion I have sworn at older dd (asked why she was being a *****). She was indignant that I called her that but I pointed out I called her behavior that.

For those of you who closed doors on your children by accident, I have reversed version for you. About 5 years ago DH was in our minivan with our DDs and my MIL. Older dd, about 11 at the time, shut the door without realizing MIL's fingers was at the back of the door. Her finger was held on only by a piece of skin. They were about 1 hr from home (visiting GMIL) when I get a call to get DDs as they are at the hospital. (Finger was reattached and MIL is now ok.) I was food shopping at the time with a full cart. While I was worried about MIL, I was very ticked to have to leave the cart.

 

[suejai]

I had a similar experience with my son many years ago. I'm not sure if this would fit under bad parenting or just my son's own lack of intelligence. I was picking him up from school a little early for some appointment. He was lagging behind a little bit. Well, I get in the car and start it up. I look in my rear view mirror and my son is just climbing into the car.(At this point, I must tell you that I am a white man, and I was in my mid-thirties at the time). Problem is, it wasn't my car he was climbing into. Not even the same color car. Adding to this, the driver of that car is a black woman who looks to be about fifty. So, I get out of my car to retrieve my son. I watch as he takes his backpack off and buckles his seatbelt(he's such a good boy) in this stranger's car. The woman has put down the book that she had been reading, wondering who this stray white boy was. My boy, meanwhile, is just sitting there, looking out the window. He was a bit surprised to see his daddy come knocking on the side of the window. It was an awkward moment when I had to ask for my child back and explain to her that he was probably confused because of our similar appearance. She was able to see the humor in this. I'm sure somehow this happened because of a failure in parenting at some level. Somehow, I took so much time getting him to remember his address and phone number, that I neglected to have him memorize what I look like.

Oh, that is sooo funny. I had to go get a tissue cause I was laughing so hard I cried.


I, too, suffer from (am blessed with ) a DS14 who ties me up in mental knots - I think he is smarter than me, and he definitely uses my words against me.

I can't think of any bad parent stories at the moment - I may be blocking them from my memory. Can I still post in your thread

 

[mariolatry]

Exhibit A:

I have a 2 year old who looooooves coffee. Dunkin Donuts is her favorite, but she'll take any kind, even homemade. She waits until I set it down and forget about it, then takes the cup and hides while she drinks it all. I try to keep a lid on it (ha- a pun!) most of the time but sometimes I just give up.

Also, she loves animals and actually kissed a sheep at the local farm before I could stop her.

 

[paintnolish]

At McD's playland, I was wrestling 2 year old tantruming dd into her coat while 3 year old ds wandered into the parking lot in 3 seconds, I tell you! A UPS man brought him in just as I realized he was missing!
More recently, I poked dd in the eye with my nail trying to give her some nasal spray (it is so dry here, she's been having bloody noses). She chicken out and I thought I could quickly get her before she turned!

 

[ckay87]

Exhibit A:

I have a 2 year old who looooooves coffee. Dunkin Donuts is her favorite, but she'll take any kind, even homemade. She waits until I set it down and forget about it, then takes the cup and hides while she drinks it all. I try to keep a lid on it (ha- a pun!) most of the time but sometimes I just give up.

Oh yea? I actually served coffee to my children. I still do, but for a 17 year old who wakes at 6 am, it's actually somewhere in their food pyramid. But I'm gonna say I got you beat because from the ages of maybe 6-12, my youngest got a small mug of coffee, served up (with a straw!) by yours truly every morning.

In all seriousness, he loved it and I could not find one reason why he should not have a little bit. We NEVER have soda at home. He was probably having less caffeine than most kids. Oh and lets just say that this little science experiment of mine proved that it does NOT stunt their growth. Unless he had the potential to be 8 feet tall. Which I doubt.

By the way...your daughter is just beautiful!

 

[paintnolish]

Oh, how could I forget...I take them out of school for a week each year. This year, it was the week leading up to Xmas vaction so we could go to WDW. They haven't been in school since 12/6. Usually this offense is punishable on the Dis with a lengthy thread, dead horse beating, and evetual visit and lock by a mod.

 

[disney_mommy]

Oh, I need to mention a few cases of bad grand- and great-grand parenting.

My mom was ironing one day and left the iron on the board and walked away. You know what's coming, right? I heard a little shout and went to investigate. My son meets me halfway and I can tell something is wrong. He's not crying, but something is not right. What's wrong, I ask him. Nothing, he says. Now he's getting a little teary-eyed. You can tell me, honey. What's wrong? Nothing, he insists. As we're talking, I start to notice a redness on his cheek. Before too long, a pattern appears. Then writing. And then little circles. Yep, an imprint of the iron is on his cheek! It says Kenmore and everything. He thought he was going to get in trouble for touching it, that's why he was trying to be so stoic. Once I coddled him, he started crying. I'm sure it hurt.

Another time, my grandmother was cleaning out the oven. She had turned the heat way up and smoked everything off. The oven was off, but she had the door open while she was cleaning the walls. Well, she turns around to the sink and here comes my son. He reaches in and wraps his hand around a coil. She felt so bad!

And not to be outdone, I was curling my hair one morning and ran downstairs. Guess who grabs the curling iron?

It's like he can't help himself. He's drawn to hot things! I was sure the hospital was going to call CPS after the third ER trip, but I never got a visit from them. I can just hear the pohone call now "Hello, CPS? We have a mother here who seems to have punished her son by presssing a hot iron againt his cheek." Luckily, he seems to have learned his lesson!

 

[Nette]

Oh yea? I actually served coffee to my children. I still do, but for a 17 year old who wakes at 6 am, it's actually somewhere in their food pyramid. But I'm gonna say I got you beat because from the ages of maybe 6-12, my youngest got a small mug of coffee, served up (with a straw!) by yours truly every morning.

Heh... Then count me in because my DD7 got her first cup of coffee when she was 3 from DH and I. Granted, it was more milk than coffee, but still. She doesn't drink it everyday, but if she asks we oblige. And some mornings we offer IYKWIM.

 

[kimmar067]

This thread is to share stories about our failures as parents. It is not intended to be used by perfect parents. I only wish to hear from those whose parenting styles could only be described as "inconsistent at best". I know that there will be those that want to judge us and take sides(ex. - "I'm on team.....). I could care less about your opinions of my failures as a parent. I've read your condescending opinions on other threads. You're not welcome here. With that said, I'll begin...

This began as a simple request to get my son to go to bed and quickly spiraled completely out of control. It was almost bedtime for my son and I told him to check the litter boxes before going to bed. Well, when I did this, my son who always tries to be funny, started talking over me. I tried repeating what I had just said and he did the same thing. He would wait until I began talking and then immediately start talking at the same time. What can I say? He's an obnoxious teenager. Finally, I just became disgusted and yelled at him, "Forget it. I'll do it myself. Just go to bed!" Well, at this point, he sheepishly says to me, "Oh, okay dad. What were you asking me to do?" Well now I don't want to tell him. I know his tactics. He is just stalling so he doesn't have to go to bed. I tell him again to just forget it and go to bed. He tells me that he wants to know what I want him to do. This goes on back and forth for several minutes, me becoming more and more angry with each exchange, my son remaining calm, cool and collected. I begin making crazy threats that my son knows I will never follow through on(ex. - selling his Xbox 360, grounding him until the end of the school year, etc.). At this point, my son has me exactly where he wants me, so he goes in for the kill. "Listen dad, we need to sit down and talk about this", he calmly says. Again, I know this is a stall tactic to get to bed later. I tell him that we could have had a talk at anytime over the whole weekend and that we are not going to have a talk thirty minutes past his bedtime. We go back and forth, my son trying to calm me down, but in a mocking sort of way. Finally, I just try walking away and going to a different room to get away from him. He keeps following me around the house and and calmly keeps requesting that I simply tell him what I wanted him to do. The two of us possess equal levels of stubbornness, so I know this isn't going to end well. Finally, I get so disgusted that I begin putting on my sneakers and tell him that I need to leave for awhile, as I can't take it anymore.(I only wanted to go around the block and stop at a Dunkin Donuts to relax and regain my composure) I tell him to do what he wants. Go to bed or don't. I don't care. Just leave me alone. Well, I'm heading to the front door and my son beats me to it and is blocking me. I tell him to move, but he won't. We begin wrestling with the door, me trying to open it, and him putting his full body weight against it. I'm yelling at him to "let me out!" and "I'm leaving!" He's yelling at me to "Get back in the house!" and "You're not going anywhere!" And then it hits me. Somehow, during the course of our argument, our roles had reversed. Here I was playing the role of the angry teenager, threatening to run away. And there my son was, acting like the cool and collected parent, demanding that I get back in the house. How does he do this?He is so diabolical. It drives me crazy when he gets the better of me like this. And yet, there is this small part inside of me that is bursting with pride over his amazing manipulative abilities(if only they were used for good, rather than evil). So that's my bad parenting story. Anyone else feel like confessing their lack of good parenting skills?

...blah-blah-blah-blah....yada-yada-yada....jes' lay off the 'sauce'.....for corn's sake...

 

[Explodo]

My DS(2) this summer decide to strip nekkid in the backyard (While we weren't looking). It wasn't so bad of an event until we noticed how sunburned his "parts" were. The wife wanted to take himi to urgent care...instead we called the nurses line and ended up with a chortling nurse who told us to use Aloe Vera.

We should have guess somethign was up when cars were driving by honking.

AND, my parents went to hawaii this summer and sent DD(5) a grass skirt and a coconut halves top. Once again we hear the cars honking and I go out the front door to witness my HUla clad daughter shaking her butt like a puppy...Needless to say...she was butt nekkid under the skirt. My neighbors must think we're nudists.

 

[iwrbnd]

I have one really bad one. I usually take the younger 2 kids to Sunday School while my husband shows up w/the older 2 for church. One Sunday I told my husband while he was still asleep that I was only taking our daughter to church and to bring the 3 boys.

I met him in church (the kids go to children's programs). During the sermon my cell phone went off. We were really confused because caller ID said it was coming from our house. I joked that the dogs were calling but then my husband got a horrified look on his face and ran out the door! Yes, he had left our youngest child at home!

 

[AndreaDM]

I have 3 daughters ages 20, 18 and almost 7 who at one point in time have thought I was the worst possible mother EVER. Especially the middle one who has demanded 90% of my energy since the day she was born. I'll never forget the day she was being a brat in the car (that in itself was not unusual) and I made her get out and walk home. We were about a mile from home and I had threatened it before and I finally followed through. About 2 blocks from home it started to sprinkle, so to hear her tell the story I made her walk about 10 miles through the pouring rain. Her and I have sure went through many battles over the years. She is now in culinary school and I'm hoping that "switch" is about to go off soon!

More recently I have taught my youngest's Sunday School class while being hungover. Yeah...we mainly colored that day.

 

[CathrynRose]

I almost killed my oldest when I let him lick on a grape popsicle. He was maybe 8 mos old, and his lick - lick soon turned to *chomp*. A big chunk of popsicle slid down his throat.

I had no idea what to do. So I put him down, grabbed him by his ankles and shook him.... like a cartoon. It came out.

And they're teenagers now, so I have no intentions of sharing any current goings-ons.

 

[CathrynRose]

My younger son just texted me:

Will u stop at McDonalds?

No.

Why? I've been a good boy! ***side note - he's 14! "Good Boy"??? LOL!

No!

**a few minutes later**

Ba da ba ba ba I'm loving it.

Eat some cheese or something.

I'm gunna take a nap. Ill c u when u get home with my meal.

He made me laugh - now he's getting McDonalds.