Real parent confessions — part one

Last week, a friend shared a blog post about mom confessions.  My group of mom friends and I were appalled at how lame these alleged “confessions” were.  Things like letting their baby cry for an extra 10 minutes in the car to make a Starbucks run.  Really?  That’s the best you’ve got?!

What bothered me most is how bad it made me feel.  I think I’m a good mom overall, but like all moms, I’ve made mistakes and had bad mom moments.  Like the time when my newly rolling daughter picked up a pair of scissors I’d left on the floor and had them headed straight for her MOUTH!  The next day, she literally found a plastic bag from Target to play with.  These are the things that happen to real moms in real life.  Having someone say that a big confession and bad mom moment is taking their daughter out of her exersaucer to sing karaoke to her is sort of like a slap in the face.  Come on, let’s be honest.

So, I put the word out to the network of moms that I know.  I offered anonymity.  And within minutes I started getting responses.  I got such a response, that I’m breaking this up into three posts!  Turns out that moms are itching to get this stuff off their chests.  Some got their husbands to share, too.  We all know this kind of stuff happens.  Here’s some real, honest answers from some real honest parents who are working hard and doing their best to raise their children.  But, like all of us, they aren’t perfect.

• When my oldest son was 2 I had left a pencil out. While I was on the phone he ran past me with the pencil in his mouth. I had no sooner said to him to get the pencil out of his mouth when he fell onto the couch. It seemed to happen in horrible slow motion! He pierced his palette and ended up being put under for surgery to put five stitches in the back of his mouth. You can still see the scar from the stitches. It’s years later but I still cringe around pencils, especially now that my son uses pencils at home for his school work. In truth we cannot protect our kids from everything but we can do our best to make sure that their environment is safe! – mother of five kids ages newborn, 1, 3, 4 and 6

• I feel like I tell my son “no” too often. However, he is in that stage that he tries to push my buttons and I refuse to back down. He has so many joys and blessings in his life to enjoy, so I am standing firm on my “no’s.”  — mother of one child, age 4

• I cover for my kids with the husband so they don’t get in trouble with the parent they don’t get much time with. It spares feelings but in the long run it is (I imagine) skewing their values. — mother of two children, ages 9 and 11

• My kids eat at McDonald’s once a week. On Tuesday. Chicken nuggets, apple dippers and milk. I realize there could be a lot worse meals, but I know there are a lot better. — mother of two children, ages 5 and 7

• My firstborn was so colicky that (thanks to my mom’s advice) I put cereal in the bottle (even though the book says not to do that). He also slept on his stomach and was not breastfed. He somehow survived and is intelligent and not obese (contrary to what the studies will tell you). — mother of two children, ages 5 and 7

• I feel like a bad parent when I come home from work and am really tired and feel more like engaging in relaxing time than reading books, doing homework, etc. Sometimes I let these things go. – father of two children, ages 5 and 7

• My husband went and picked up the baby from the babysitter’s house last week.  When he went in, she was in her carseat with her blanket in her lap, so he picked her up and put her in the car.  He got home and realized she was never buckled up.  ACK! — mother of two children, ages 3 months and 2

• Before we started sleep training, my daughter would only sleep with massive amounts of white noise. She took many naps, and even spent a night or two in the pack-and-play in our bathroom with the exhaust fan rattling away the entire time. — mother of one child, age 2

• If my husband is going to be teaching and I am alone all evening, I sometimes try to have my daughter play through nap time so she’ll be extra tired and need to go to bed earlier. I never do this when he’s going to be home in the evening to help out. — mother of one child, age 2

• I sometimes tell my husband I have to poo just so I can sit alone on my phone. Bad mom or bad wife? LOL — mother of one child, age 2

• When I took my youngest son in to get his feet measured for his shoes when he was 18 months old, I found out I had him in shoes three sizes too small. Yep, that’s right I said three sizes. And the sad part is he’s my third; you think I would have learned from previous two to get his poor feet measured more frequently than every six months. — mother of three, ages 2, 7 and 11

• One evening after dinner I was really stressed and my oldest daughter wanted me to help her with her homework. It seemed like it was taking forever and I really couldn’t see the lesson behind it so I just told her the answers so we could be done quicker. — mother of three, ages 2, 7 and 11

• I can remember a really bad day during maternity leave that I just left my son in his crib and went outside for at least five minutes, probably more like 10.  I just let him cry because I could not take him anymore. — mother of one, age 2

• I hate, hate, hate whining.  I have told my son that the bulls hate it and that is why when he is crying and whining in the pasture they all come up.  I told him they don’t like it and they are coming to make him stop.  (They really just love him and are checking on him.)  Now all I say is the bulls can hear him and he stops.  I confess a part of me feels guilty about it but another part is extremely happy for the quiet. — mother of one, age 2

• TV is a great babysitter… — mother of one, age 2

• Since my 2-year-old has decided that he is not ready to sleep through the night, yet, and still wakes up ridiculously early in the morning, some days, when I am too tired, I get up with him, change his diaper, give him milk and a snack, turn on the TV in the family room and go back to bed. It is right outside of my bedroom so I can hear everything, I sometimes I get and extra hour of much needed sleep. — mother of two, ages 2 and 5

• Once in a while I go “visit” my mom with the kids, so someone else can play and watch them for me so I can do nothing for a while. — mother of two, ages 2 and 5

• My 5-year-old still drinks from sippy cups several times a day because I don’t want to deal with the mess if she spills her drinks. — mother of two, ages 2 and 5

• I promised my daughter that we could paint after “Sesame Street” is over, but I’m now sitting here with my fingers crossed hoping she forgot. — mother of one, age 2

• One time when my daughter was still in her bucket baby seat, I took her out while we were in a store and completely forgot to buckle her back in. — mother of one, age 2

• I didn’t realize until about two weeks ago that my daughter is outgrowing her current carseat. When forward facing, the straps should come from above their shoulders, rather than under like when rear facing. Luckily, it hadn’t been wrong for long and now she has a new seat. — mother of one, age 2

• When my daughter was little, I made most of her food. But I flat out refused to puree meat (barf!) and the smell of the jarred stuff was so awful that my daughter just didn’t eat much meat until she was able to gum the real thing. — mother of one, age 2

• I gave my daughter a small lick of cake batter the other day, even though it has raw egg. — mother of one, age 2

• I was completely exhausted in the first six weeks and one night my daughter was not crying but over in the pack and play napper just making enough noises that I couldn’t go to sleep and I yelled at her really bad.  Five seconds later I was crying and holding her telling her I was sorry. — mother of one, age 2

• Per the title of the book and also narrated by Samuel L. Jackson, I have told my youngest son, “Please, Child, Please Go the *?$! to Sleep!”  Embarrassed!  He obviously didn’t understand me and this was during the time he was such a horrible napper and would cry and scream himself to sleep because he was so tired. – mother of two, ages 10 months and 2

More confessions to come on Friday and next Monday.  Feel free to comment and share some more.  It feels good to just let it out!