Parenting fails – moms confess their worst stories

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Moms confess their parenting fails

Every mom and dad will have a parenting fail or parenting fails sooner or later.

It is pretty much inevitable when you have a kid and you know what?

That is totally fine.

After all, we are all just human.

so don’t let anyone tell you that you are a bad parent.

There are the classic fails like accidentally locking your baby in the car with keys inside (happened to me, we had to break a window) or the baby falling off the bed (yep, happened to me too).

You will probably feel absolutely horrible when something like this happens to you and think you are a horrible parent.

But don’t worry – these kids all turn out fine and you are not the only one that this happened to.

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I asked a few moms to share their parenting fails (thank you so much!) and these are the stories I got:

Forgot the kid parenting fails

Not in the car

Once my kids were moving so slow for school and we were running late. I tell my boys to go outside and get in the car. I was inside doing my daughters hair, I finished and told her to go outside and get in the car. I was inside maybe another 5 minutes, literally ran outside got in the car and took off. As I got in the car I begin yelling at my kids. A good 30 seconds go by (30 seconds is actually a lot lol) my 7 year old son yells out “Mommy, Giana is not in the car”
I’m like what??? I look back and shes not there. I hit a u turn so fast and see my daughter outside by husbands car crying her eyes out because I left her alone outside. I felt like shit and felt so bad. I asked what happened and she said she stopped to put lip gloss and was looking at herself on her dads car mirror. My daughter was 4 years old at the moment, so I freaked out extra hard. I always check and make sure they are all in the car. – Claudia A.

OMG where is the baby?

So… I did the worst thing
I
Forgot
My
Baby….
In the car 🙈🙈
So we were going to Great Wolf lodge and everybody was excited of course… except me,
I have social anxiety 😑
At the time we were only three kids deep, with +2. I grabbed my second oldest hand. My sister grabbed her child and I thought my husband had grabbed the baby and the oldest walked ahead of us. When i go into crowded places i go into this tunnel vision. The auto pilot turns on and the destination is to just get through it. (I hate that THIS is where my mind was)So we get into the lodge and then my oldest looks up at me and says “wheres the baby”
JESUS – We forgot my baby!!! While dad ran out to the car i with the children slipped to the bathroom where I become undone. I began hyperventilating. Panicking crying!! I was the worst (because I judged parents who left their kids in car, like who could ever, “NOT MEEEE”)) but yes me, yes very much me. So now when I see a pack of alpha moms jumping on a family for forgetting a child in the back seat, I feel physically sick to my stomach because I made that mistake.
It wasnt long til we realized and thank GOD that nothing happened. Baby was safe asleep in her carseat, BUT THAT was one of the worst moment of my life and I beat myself up enough for it that I keep this story to myself unless for when I shyly share it. I’m now rolling 5 kids deep and havent forgotten any in the car since. I think we should learn to give room for error and grace and to make sure we learn and do better always. – Anonymous

Left at the arcade

When my son was about 2 we went down the shore (I have 4 kids). We stopped in an arcade, played a while and continued down the boardwalk. Like 5 minutes later my older daughter says “Where’s Joey?”. I was pushing an empty stroller, he was still in the arcade. Luckily someone gave him a token and he was trying (unsuccessfully) to roll the ball into the hole at Skiball when I ran back. Now i take a head count every few minutes. – Erica C.

Parenting fails out and about

Unbuckled

I was in a rush one time from picking my daughter up from Daycare (she was 2 years old) and I had to put her car seat back into the car. I forgot to buckle the car seat in to the car. I buckled her in her seat but not the seat to the car. I was driving home and turned the corner and she in the seat rolled over onto the back seat upside down. I immediately stopped the car, freaking out crying.. I flip her back over (still buckled in her car seat) and she’s there laughing saying “do that again mommy” – Cindy P.

In the blink of an eye

So I was at the park with both my kids.. with my husband .. I was pushing the oldest on the swing while my youngest was in the sand pit.. my husband leaned in and kissed me .. and for that one second of a kiss.. my son wasn’t in the sand pit no more .. I literally lost my shit .. I searched and searched and I could feel my heart beating hard .. I sat down and cried .. and when I looked up .. my son ran to me with another child’s ball .. 😭😭 I asked him where was he .. he said he was playing with his new friend .. (another child his age) … I was so mad at my husband for kissing me that day .. 😭😭 – anonymous

Break the Glass

I am a SAHM and helping my neighbor out by picking her kid up from school. One day I was getting ready to go and put my baby in her car seat. My car’s locking system is messed up so it doesn’t lock any doors but one when I click on the key. That means I have to manually lock the others when I get out. So i opened that one door that is possible with the key, crawled in and sat the key down while I got the car seat in the base. I crawled back out and must’ve hit the lock on the door with my foot or something I can’t even tell you but when I closed the door it wouldn’t open anymore and the baby including the keys were in the car. LOCKED. I already had locked the front door and panic started to settle in. Thankfully my father in law doesn’t work far away so he came over with tools trying to break in my own car. The 5-10 minutes I was standing there waiting for him felt like an eternity. When he got here he couldn’t get the door open and my baby started crying so we ended up breaking the window. I was so relieved. When he left I told my neighbor that I’m sorry but I can’t get her kid today and briefly explained what happened. Then I went inside, hugged my baby and cried while feeling like the worst mother on earth. Now I always make sure the keys are in my pocket at all times. – anonymous 

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Parenting fails at home

Eating Lotion

When my son a little over a year he ate desitin. This was after het got into the baby powder scented vaseline.I had one of those diaper caddies haning on the side of the crib. He reached over, grabbed the vaseline and lathered himself, his clothes, his sheets, his hair all with Vaseline. As I walked into the room, I wondered why it had this pleasant, delightful baby powder scent lingering from it. When I saw how glistening my child was, I quickly realized why.So, in my new mom infinite wisdom, I thought to myself that I’d better lower his crib mattress because he was able to reach over and get into the diaper caddy. But, I didn’t think to actually move the caddy. So that is, then, how my son got into the Desitin. I was so scared he ate some that I called poison control y’all. He was ok. He never actually ingested any. But i felt like the worst mom.He’s 16 now so I guess I’m doing something right. I mean, he’s still alive – anonymous

Rolling on top

After I had my daughter, I got an infection with a high fever. She slept in the bed with us and I rolled over on her without realizing it. She was screaming by the time I knew what was happening. – Robin S.

Fall from the bed

When my daughter was only 4 months old she fell off the bed. She could not crawl yet but move around a little and we have a safety rail on the bed. I got up and about two feet away from the bed to grab new underwear for the day when I heard a “boom” and turned around. My daughter somehow got around the safety rail where the pillows are and fell down on my nightstand. I was so scared and felt miserable. I instantly called my mom to tell her what happened and she assured me it’s ok which was a huge relief. – anonymous 

Iron the floor

I have a mall iron solely for the purpose of heat-pressing on clothes and store it in the drawer of my desk. My toddler likes to take it out but leaves it alone. The other day I went to the bathroom while my toddler was in the living room playing. When I came back I found the Iron plugged into the only socket that does not have a protector because it won’t hold (it always falls out) and facing down the floor. Thankfully the iron was on lowest setting, she didn’t burn herself and I saw it right away. Definitely not storing it in my desk anymore. – anonymous

Cigarettes taste good

My husband is a smoker. He always puts his cigarettes on the kitchen table when he comes home from work. Our daughter is very active and gets into everything with her 1.5 years. You would think that by now he would know not to put his stuff in places she can reach…well, one saturday he was still asleep and I was in the middle of making breakfast when it is suspiciously quiet. So I go and check on my daughter to find her with the new pack of cigarettes open playing on the floor and she ate some tobacco. I was freaking out. You do not need to be a parent to know that stuff is poison to small children. Thankfully poison control now has a great online system where you can put in what was digested, when and your child’s weight. They even check up per email. Thankfully she never showed any symptoms and everything was fine but I was so mad at my husband. – anonymous

Flooding the bathroom

I thought it would be a good idea to encourage my 3 year old to be more independent and wash her hands with soap by herself. She managed to put the plug in the sink and flood the bathroom and smear all of my face cream on her body. I don’t think she’s quite ready to be left alone in the bathroom yet! – Monica G.

As bad as some of these stories may sound – be assured everyone is fine. I hope these stories can make you feel a little better about parenting fails that may have happened to yourself before or will happen in the future. Being a parent is definitely not easy and things can happen all the time. Don’t beat yourself up over it – you are doing a great job!

If you have a story to share you can always message me to be featured.

What absolutely crazy parenting story happened to you?

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