It’s my birthday today and I was going to talk about the things that I have learned in the 27 years that I have been on this earth. I was going to talk about the things that have changed in the last 6 years, the person that I am is different from then. I just don’t have the energy for that today, so instead I am confessing on topic with Kirsty from My Home Truths and talking about parental fails.
There is not one single parent out there who is perfect. Not one. Anyone who tries to tell you different is an idiot. I think it’s good to talk about parental fails, I know for me it definitely makes me feel better. It’s nice to know when I am not the only one screwing this thing up a little bit.
I do have to say though that there is a difference between a parental fail and being a failure as a parent. Messing up sometimes is just part of life, your kids aren’t going to care if you have spaghetti on toast for dinner. Hell they will probably love it! As long as they know that you love them and that you will always be there for them then I think you are doing alright.
Now…onto my parental fails, after all sharing is caring!
- When Mr 5 was around 2 we were stopped at a set of traffic lights. He was in his pram and I didn’t realise that I had forgotten to strap him, or that he was trying to stand up to talk to me when the light went green. He fell face first into the bitumen. I felt so bad, and he had a massive bruise on his face for a few days. He was obviously scarred for life as an hour later I caught him scaling the bookshelf!
- I once had to use towels as a sheet because he had gastro and I’d run out of sheets during the night. I was so glad that I was using fabric softener at the time.
- When Mr 5 was around 18 months he touched the mower engine just after Paul had finished using it. I ran his hand under cool water but there didn’t seem to be a mark. An hour later his palm had bubbled up in a large blister and it still wasn’t worrying him.
- Buying and making Mr 5 wear a NSW Jersey
- Giving Mr 5 a bird bath with a washer because we slept in (again!) and were running late for school.
Despite what I see as fails, Mr 5 is a pretty good kid. He has a ton of personality and I love him with every fiber of my being. He is the reason that I get up everyday and he is the reason that I pick myself up and keep going, even when I really don’t want to.
What’s your most memorable parenting fail?
Any fails that you can remember your parents committing?
Linking up for I must confess with Kirsty!
I wouldn’t have even considered the towels as a sheet as a fail – what does that say about me???
Happy birthday to you, my lovely. Hope you are showered with attention and enjoy the day/night.
Your Mr 5 sounds like such a character! My Mr 6 is too. I agree, there is no such thing as a perfect parent. Happy birthday! Hope you have a great day! And a cakie, of course! xo
I’m off topic today but I’m at least back to blogging. As far as parenting fails, I think I did pretty well with three under three, luckily and funnily the major parenting fails happened when hubby was on watch. Like the time, we returned from a ski trip and I drove most of the way home and hit the sack the minute we walked in the door. I awoke thirty minutes later to hubby saying, we are going to need your mum’s help with this one.
The girls (1, 2 & 3) had found a 10 kilos bag of flour and emptied it in our games room because they wanted to continue their snow fight. The eldest also decided it might be a good idea to clean up before dad (who was asleep on the lounge) woke up. You can imagine the mess now that water was in the equation. The youngest seem to cope most of the flour and was covered head to toe.
“Buying and making Mr 5 wear a NSW Jersey”
I call that good parenting
It took me a while to work out what you meant by bird bath lol. I was like what you let him play with a bird bath, whats wrong with that? Wait what does that have to do with sleeping in. Oh wait, I get it! Lol I’m a bit slow!
Oh, I’m just picturing the first one when he wasn’t strapped in properly. I’ve done that before with my three but they always very vocally tell me they’re not strapped in before I go anywhere!
Sounds like you do an awesome job BIRTHDAY GIRL – happy birthday. I forgot nappies once for my youngest so I found an old pair of girls knickers ( he is a boy) and put serviettes inside…
I reckon I have done almost all of those things. Happy birthday girl, you be so YOUNG! x
Ha we all make mistakes when it comes to parenting. I definitely don’t think the towels as a sheet thing counts as a fail AT ALL, it makes perfect sense. My big one is letting her sleep in my bed when she wakes in the night. I know I shouldn’t but it’s so stressful when she screams for hours and we all need our sleep!
Your post has reminded me of a couple of my own parenting fails: holding my newborn and checking the wall oven, and accidentally brushing her foot against the hot glass door – my stupidity was the reason for her screams of pain! Luckily she didn’t burn or blister but I was in copious tears and feeling like such a bad parent afterwards. Oh and when she was about 10 months old and just walking, she fell off the step out of our laundry and broke her front tooth 🙁 … but hey she turned out all right in the end … 🙂
Using towels as sheets, well I keep a towel in Max’s room and I just fold it in half and put it over the wet spot when he wets the bed in the middle of the night. Max even woke up the other week, turned on his light, got changed and put the towel on himself and then went back to bed. I woke up the next morning and pieced it all together. I was really proud of him but a bit sad too that he didn’t wake me like he usually would. I would have to say that my biggest parenting fail was when I was decorating Max’s cupcakes for daycare last year and it was really cold so the heater was on in the lounge room. And the boys were watching TV so I could decorate the cake. Then I smelled something burning…….. They had accidentally leant a pillow against the heater. I was really lucky that it had just started burning when I smelled it and that I got it to the bathroom real quick before it was actually on fire. It scared the shit out of me.