What was one of your worst parenting mistakes?

Question

My worse one was when my daughter was only a few days old my husband and I was rushing to get to a doctors appointment for me. We put our daughter on the floor of the kitchen in her car seat while we got everything together to go. My husband and I got in the car and we was backing out of the drive way. For some reason I looked back and then I notice that our daughter wasn't in the back seat. I yelled at my husband to stop and that our daughter wasn't in the car. He pulled forward real fast and ran into the house. He came out carrying our daughter in her seat and apologizing to her profusely. He was so upset that we forgot her for just those few minutes. He said that when he got into the house our daughter was just sitting in her seat looking around chillin..lol

Answer 1

Giving up on breastfeeding too soon (when she was one month old) :( it just didnt work out for us and she was hungry all the time. I wish if I had the support I needed.. didnt help much that my mom in law was staying at our place for "help and support" :S God bless her, she's a happy child now and was a healthy happy baby, but we can't help the guilt, can we?

Answer 2

With my first - I was getting cabin fever one spring so I decided to take my 8 month old fishing. I put him in my baby backpack and headed to the side of the lake to fish from the shore. On my way  down the slippery rocks I fell but was quick enough to flip onto my stomach. My face hit the rock and his face hit the back of my head. We both had bloody noses and were quite distraught. I went back to the car and got us cleaned up and realized how stupid it was. We sat and calmed down for a minute and were ready to head home for a more responsible activity. That's when I realized my car keys also flew off when we fell an they were in the lake....

I'm a much better parent now....I hope.

Answer 3

sounds like my bf.  about a week after our son was born, my bf was like he wanted to do some activities with the baby so that they could bond.  so what does he do?  he puts him in the baby carrier and takes him to the local car wash and attempts to wash the car with the baby.  But as you know, washing the car can be a "wet" job and my one week old baby was getting drenched.  My bf came home soaking wet with a towel wrapped around the baby and he looked so sad.

He just kept apologizing.

I was like at least he didnt hot wax the car... i told him that washing the car with a newborn baby was a hideously dumb idea!

another time, my bf wanted my son, who is now three months, to hear the song that he had recorded so he was going to put the headphones on the baby.  I had to snatch them away... another hideously dumb idea.

my poor bf, he knows nothing about babies. he tries so hard but comes up with the most stupid ideas.

Answer 4

Worrying too much about all the things that might go wrong in the future and not just enjoying the moment.  The years fly by, and we never get it back.  If they're well and with you right now, take a good look at them, give them a hug, be happy, and give thanks.

Answer 5

Not removing my parents from my life sooner. I gave 2 years of chances knowing things weren't going to change. It didn't really have much effect on my daughter, but it did put more hassle on my husband and I the first 2 years of her life. Teaching/raising your own parents per say, isn't ideal with child of your own to focus on.

Oh well though, it is what it is. No worries now.

Answer 6

Taking the advice of a doctor instead of my own gut instinct. My daughter had been sick for 2 weeks. She was extremely dehydrated, couldn't stand, or eat, she was only 2 and was extemely sick. We saw the doctor daily for 7 days and finally I took her into the emergency room. They did a chest xray then rushed her into the cat scan then off to surgery. Her appendix had been ruptured for 5 days. She had a huge infection and stayed in the hospital for 27 days. She's fine now but she will always have a 6 inch scar on her stomach.

Trust me, trust your self and you mothers instinct!!!

Answer 7

When my 3rd child was very young, I put sunscreen on every square inch of her body..........except her ears. She ended up with blisters on the tops of her ears! Needless to say, I felt pretty horrible but I never forgot her ears ever again!

That is just the first one that comes to mind. I am sure there are others!

Cori** the same thing happened to my brother when he was a senior in high school. He too was in the hospital for weeks. He was 6ft 4in tall and his weight went down to 128lbs! He was a very sick young man as I am sure your daughter was. Had my mother kept taking the advice of his doctor, he probably would not be here today. My mother said the same thing you did. "I should have listened to my instincts."