We asked- you answered!
What was the most mortifying moment you have had as a parent?
Annette: I have always believed in teaching my children correct terminology for all body parts, which I later regretted. Being pregnant with my second child, and on bed rest due to severe prolapse, I was dropping my five-year-old at school and he was telling the teacher how happy he was that I was out of bed now. When the teacher said, “oh, has mummy being really sick” he replies “no, her uterus was falling out!”
Samantha: A child in my Prep class once told me that his parents always walk around the house naked! The funniest bit was that his mum was also a teacher at the school!
Cat: Picking my three-year-old old up from day-care the other week a mum approach me and said “oh you must be C’s mum, my son talks about him all the time. My son says that whenever C isn’t happy with what someone else does he says to them ‘my Mum will chop your head off!’ I was absolutely mortified! Especially as we are a very peaceful family, that doesn’t allow any violent TV, etc.
Annie: My husband took my three-year-old son to swimming and they were in the change room when my son said “I can see your doodle Daddy and it’s a super big awesome one!” My hubby was a bit embarrassed when the woman next to him exited her cubicle at the same time.
Kate: My daughter’s prep teacher asked my daughter in her first week of Grade 1 what she liked best about being in Grade 1 and her reply was ‘getting a new teacher’ (me, silent gasp, embarrassing giggle, err, um?)
Laura: Waiting for a lady to pick her tomatoes at the supermarket and my then three-year-old daughter said “Come on Knobhead!”
Jessica: My five-year-old son asked me if my belly had a zipper? I said “no , why?” He replied “then how did the baby come out?” Quick thinking – I replied “mummies have a special hole”… Instant reply “Can I see it?”
Lyn: Son given a great present by an aunty, didn’t say thank you, just opened the card and said “there’s no money!”
Kelly: Waiting for the person in front of me to be served at the supermarket, my little three-year-old thought it would be a good idea to knock on the ladies fake leg (she was wearing shorts so could see it) and ask “what’s that?”
Ruth: Walking around Bunnings my daughter noticed a man with a rather pronounced abdomen, so she pointed at him as we walked past and announced “look mummy, that man has a baby in his tummy!”
Chloe: Walking past an overweight lady my then four-year-old pipes up within earshot of said lady “mum, is she that big because she eats bad energies?”
Fiona: My youngest child – 4-years-old – had seen an app on the tablet (a goat simulator that changes the sound of your voice) followed me around the supermarket and, in a loud whining voice nagged me for a ‘goat stimulator’. ‘But I want to stimulate a goat….I could get it to do whatever I said.’ Many strange looks from other shoppers.
Justine: When sitting around watching the Biggest Loser one night, my daughter turned to her aunty and said “You should go on that show, I think you would win because you could lose so much.” We all just burst into laughter. It sounds cute coming from a six-year-old, not so much from a 46-year-old.
Jayne: Having my three or four year old in the public toilet with me and it was that time of the month and she announces in a loud voice that mummy wears a nappy just like she used to! I think too early for the talk, also too early to put her in her own cubicle.
If you could tell your ten-year-old self anything, what would it be and why?
Stacey: Don’t be in a rush to be a grown up. Enjoy every minute of being a kid!! All adults see kids and wish they could be that carefree.
Emily: Enjoy being a child. Being an adult isn’t always all it’s cracked up to be!
Luke: Don’t worry about what the other kids at school say, just be yourself. Years from now those other kids will just be a memory.
Kristy: Stay a child as long as you can. Childhood is precious.
Ashlee: Sleep!!! Become best friends with it and learn all about sleeping in!
Kelly: Go easy on your mum, she really does know best and isn’t out to get you (perhaps I would more likely tell this to the 13-year-old me).
Stephanie: Save your money! Travel. Don’t stress on the little things.
Joanne: Have confidence in yourself – things will get better.
John: Definitely that childhood goes too quickly and that adulthood is not much fun so don’t rush to get there.
Lisa: It’s okay to put yourself first sometimes, your happiness matters as well. To a 10-year-old this wouldn’t make sense but to my adult self it sure does. I went through a lot of my adult life trying to keep others happy and letting my own happiness suffer.
