How {NOT} to be the Perfect Mom Giveaway with Jill Savage
What is your most imperfect mom moment?
Have you ever nearly clipped the end of your newborn’s fingertip off while trying to trim her fingernails, drawing blood and causing her to scream in pain?
Have you ever told your pre-schooler, while they were riding round and round on a fast-twirling merry-go-round, to “Jump!” into your arms so you could catch her {but failed to anticipate that when she jumped at the command,the momentum of the twirling would actually send her soaring waaaaay past you and onto a cement patio where she would get two terribly scraped knees and a a sprain left arm?}
Or how about this one, ever bake homemade bread from scratch for company, only to leave out the yeast and then wonder why it never rose in the pan and looked like a big sunken mess?
Has a vice-principal ever had your number on speed dial due to the antics and pranks of your middle-schooler?
Did you yell at your child for something that was an accident because you were actually upset about an issue with a friend but took your anger out on them instead?
Have you neglected praying for your child because you were just plain too busy?
Have you looked around at a mom who has seemingly perfectly obedient children and thought to yourself, “As a mother, I’m a failure. And my kids aren’t far behind.”
Well….. I can answer a hearty “Yes” to ALL of the above happening at our house. The truth is, there are no perfect moms. Just women who play them on TV {and some who play them in real life!}.
My perfectly imperfect friend Jill Savage, founder of Hearts at Home, has written a wonderful book for all of us in the “Messed Up Moms Club” and she is giving away two copies of it here today.
And if you can get your sweet self to Rochester, MN the weekend of November 8-9, you can hang out with Jill and me, along with our two imperfect friends, comedian Anita Rentfroe and author and actress Candace Cameron Bure.
The Hearts at Home North Central Conference registration closes October 23 so make plans now to join us!!! Click here for more info.
And if you’d like to be entered to win one of Jill’s books, leave us an “imperfect mommy moment” that YOU have experienced. Winners announced Monday.
My son is 18 and I hate to say it, but I can not count the times I felt like a failure of a mom. I have learned over the years how to humble myself and sit my son down and tell him I am sorry when I should. My son is so amazing and has such a huge heart that he forgives me everytime :) The one moment that I can think of is when I was a very new mom and he was still in an infant carrier. I had my hands full and was trying to carry him in the carrier plus everything else…cause why on earth would I think I couldn’t carry everything! I had the carrier on my hip and it pushed up against the house while I fumbled with opening the door with my other hand that was already full…..needless to say it did not go well. I carrier started to slide down the house and off my hip…..yep I dropped the carrier with my son in it……I went into the house and cried like a baby while holding my baby…I felt like the worst mom EVER!!!!!
So many..so little time! LOL
While holding my son who was about 14 month at the time, and attempting to climb over the baby gate as opposed to moving it so it would be easier to get through the doorway. Of course being I’m barely over 5′ and the gate stands at 3′ made it challenging. So much so that we my leg caught on the gate, and of course the gate went and us with it. The only thing hurt was my pride and dignity because hubby got it all on video.
My imperfect mom moment came just recently. My 10 yr old daughter is a competitive cheerleader and tumbler. We had just arrived at home after a really good tumble class where she learned something new. As we got out of the car, she was shutting her mini van door and I was shutting my passenger door. At the last possible second, if went into slow motion as I saw that her hand was getting shut in the door. We took her to urgent care to get X-ray on her crumpled hand. Fortunately it was just bruised and she only had to miss a week. I felt like a really bad mom and the worst mom of the year. She recovered quickly and now I am very careful when I close doors.
I call it “Monster Mom”…..It happens more times than I would like to admit! At the moment I feel that only shock will cause them to refrain from whatever they are doing. However, I would not let my children around anyone or anything that acted this way……makes my heart skip a beat just thinking about how aweful it is…..
“Monster Mom” has put in more than a few appearances here also.
How to have an imperfect mommy moment in 4 easy steps:
Step 1: When your 7 year old daughter is constipated, start her on the doctor recommended laxative.
Step 2: While on said laxative, go visit friends who live over 100 miles away.
Step 3: Get so busy having fun with friends, that you forget about staying close to a bathroom.
Step 4: Yell at daughter after she has an “accident” due to being on laxative and not being near a bathroom.
Oh yes, I did. Needless to say, I felt horrible afterwards, and we had a much needed snuggle time with profuse apologies from me. My sweet daughter said, “It’s okay Mom, I still love you.”
Awww.. poor mommy- and her little girl. ((hugs))
I have so many “Mom of the Year” moments, but if I have to pick one when my son was around 12 months and crawling everywhere I was dillegently cleaning the front room, After a few mintues I went to see where he had crawled to and found him inside a back closet eating Decon. His mouth was green from eating the pellets. I immediately called posion control, and they assured he that he would be fine, but I still feel bad about it to this day.
I found it so hard to let my son go to Kindergarten. I would drop him off and stand by the window outside the classroom to wave. The teacher finally told me kindly to “just leave”. I had not been making the separation any easier. I tended/tend to STILL hold on to my boys (now ages 23 and 20). They politely tell me that they can do things on their own.
I have had a bunch but there was one just a couple of weeks ago. My daughter is a straight A student never got anything lower than an A. She is an ace at reading and math. Meaning her AR levels are through the roof and she’s a 4th grader reading at a 7th grade level. So she’s good at reading. She brought home two reading papers that were Fs. I flipped out and went overboard. I came unglued and she went to her rooms in tears. I apologized the next day and she is doing better and I don’t flip (as bad) when she brings home bad grades. Oh and the time my son who is 17 months old got a hold of a bottle of peppermint essential oil and drank the whole thing and I had to call poison control. (He was fine, though. I sell oils, and I take the oils, so I knew it was okay, but he drank 1/2 oz. Oops!)
When my now 22 year old was in preschool, he failed the eye screening at school. I thought that is silly, I didn’t get glasses until the 3rd grade! Surely he can’t need glasses yet! So, when he failed it next year in Kindergarten, I took him to the eye doctor and the doctor (who had been my doctor since I was a teen), said, Yep, he probably should have been in glasses last year!
Oh my! yes and yes!!!! When my son was 7 months old, he fell off the bed between the mattress and the dresser, forgetting to put money on lunch cards, losing my cool…oh, and one day I meant to say hush up to one child while directing my other child to shut the door and shouted “shut up!” in the middle of the school parking lot….to name but a few.
The memory that comes to mind, is the time that I tried to get my young son to finish every drop of his orange juice. Even though he was gagging ~ telling me that it was too salty. ( I had forgotten that I had used his toddler cup, to hold the canning salt, for easier measuring during canning)!! Oh, dear me. At least I realized it before he finished it. Would love to read this book.
Wow! So many imperfect moments-so little space to write!!! I guess one we still talk about 20 yrs later was being so rushed in the morning , that I sent my daughter to “pink day” at preschool-dressed head to toe in BROWN! The door was pink (I missed that somehow),the snack, the decorations,the games, the craft, all the other kids , the other preschool class, the teacher! Pink everywhere!!!! The principal (wearing pink)met me at pick-up to warn me of the ramifications of this catastrophic act. My precious daughter rolled with it and survived unscarred !!!!!
Sadly, too many to speak of. Most recently my son fell at taekwondo class and complained that his arm hurt. Assuming it’s just a sprain since he wasn’t crying profusely and his arm wasn’t hanging at some weird angle, we put ice on it and sent him to school the next day – in the middle of state testing, of course – even though he was holding it next to his body to protect it, etc. Decided to take him in after school just to be sure – and what do you know – a broken arm! I just keep telling myself at least it was only 24 hours. Oh well, it’s all healed now and stronger than ever!!
My worst time as an imperfect Mom was when I took my one yr. old to the doctor for her checkup, came out, put her in her car seat, laid my keys on the dashboard while I fastened her in, and shut the door. Realized the second I shut the door that the keys were on the dash and the car was locked. It was summer and hot. Knowing she was locked in, I rushed in to doctor, had them call police and they came and unlocked the door, only to give me a lecture that I should never lock my child in the car (I really needed that reminder). I was so scared and embarrassed – she was fine – had her pacifier and kept grinning at me through the window. We took her in, got some water and went on our way but I will never forget that awful time!
When my son was a toddler I realized that it was too quiet in our house (never a good thing) .When I went looking for him I saw that the dining room screen was out of the window and him and the dog were missing. I found him about half way down the street in the neighbors front yard. Our lab was barking at the neighbor, my son is staring at him and he was saying “you need to go home now” and making shooing gestures with his hands. Funny now but not so much then.
Don’t feel two bad. My son escaped the house twice. Once as a toddler while I was drawing his batth. (and yes, he was nsked at the tome) And once as a preschooler, when I thought he was napping.
I think one of my favorite imperfect mommy moments is when I forgot about picture day at school. It had been a rushed morning and the kids were not the best dressed, I don’t even think my daughter’s hair was brushed. The best part though is I worked for their school and was the one that put out the reminders for picture day. I of course remembered as soon as I got to my desk, and saw the extra photo forms sitting there. Thankfully my husband ran home and got them new clothes and we made it just in time to not have disastrous pictures.
Oh my – this brought to mind my worst moment as a mom! When the boys were ages 2, 3 and 4, we were trying to really cut spending, so my bright idea was to cut the boys’ hair myself! Started with the oldest because he was the quiet one and would sit still – I was cutting a bunch of hair around his ear and it got really tough to cut!? So I squeezed the scissors hard and it cut through – his EAR! Not a whimper or cry from the child – just a look of surprise at my yell about the blood on the scissors! Fortunately it was a small skin piece, but he still has a scar behind his right ear and I have never cut ANYONE’s hair again!!
I wish I could go to the conference, but, even so, thank you for the chance to win the book!
Let’s see, the first one comes to mind when my oldest was a newborn and she rolled off the couch. I felt bad enough as it was without my husband freaking out about it on me. Although not long after, something similar happened to him. He didn’t say much after that. The latest many years later….I keep using my middle child’s name when anyone gets in trouble, etc. Even if he wasn’t the one at fault! Poor kid.
You’re not lone. I think it’s a rite of passage. Both of mine rolled of either the couch or bed before the reached six months old!
I’m def an imperfect Mom….always messing up, have to humble myself and tell my kids I’m sorry and they are so forgiving!! One of my many “messes” is hearing an argument between the kids, assuming I know what happened and telling the wrong child what they did wrong!! Oh, boy!!
I tried to cut my daughter’s hair one time and the more I cut the shorter it got because I just couldn’t get the length in the back even. One time my mom was cooking chicken spaghetti…we all ate and ate and ate and it was good! BUT she forgot to put the chicken in it!! We still joke about it today! :)
Wow, I’ve had so many imperfect moments I would never be able to count them all…from the power going out while I was clipping my daughter’s nails when she was 2 months old and clipping her finger….to leaving church with my arms full of “stuff” and forgetting to pick my child up in the nursery, only to realize when I turned into my drive at home that she was still at church!!!! Then, there have been some ugly moments too, where I have lost my temper and was the worst example of a mom that could ever be. I would love to have this book to share with my daughter, who I am proud to say is now a mother herself of a rambunctious little 3 year old boy. She is now understanding what it is like to be an imperfect mom.
I’m the typical forgot-about-the-child after school one day .. Just got busy and overwhelmed with other things and got that late OH NO feeling!! But it was all good .. She used a friend’s phone and called and it was fine … :) Just bad feeling for mom ..
Tried my hand at giving my son a haircut. It did not turn out too well, he was embarrassed and I never tried it again. To the Salon we go!
My imperfect mommy moment-they happen all the time! Oh! Lol…
One I distinctly remember I was a brand new mom..bout a year ago, and taking my then one month or so old to the dr (who was about an hr away). I was rushed in getting him in the car so we wouldn’t be late and we got there hehad a huge explosion (diaper wise if u caych my drift). I realized I hadn’t packed (bc I was rushed) ANY DIAPERS OR WIPES! o the poor kid……… thankfully I managed to scrape up a larger unused diaper at rhe dr office from some back backdrawer they had(no judging) and ee made it thru the appointment and 2hrs later back home. Now I try to leave extras in the car
We all have them! The funniest one for me is, in an effort to encourage no more thumb sucking for our 5 year old, I tried that bitter apple nail polish…. Then, without thinking, have her a cinnamon roll for breakfast! Nice, huh? Who doesn’t suck on their fingers after eating a frosted cinnamon roll?
“Who doesn’t suck on their fingers after eating a frosted cinnamon roll?”
LOL I’m guessing maybe your daughter… not anymore! Thanks for the giggle!