I never said I was a perfect mom. In fact, I pride myself on being far from perfect which is a big reason why I even started my blog. Over the years I haven’t been shy about my mishaps, either. I’ve written about many of my not-so-proud-mom moments knowing full well that I am not alone.
At least, I hope I’m not.
I shared about the time I put almond cream on my son’s face who happens to have a severe nut allergy (and yes, I put it on his face without knowing it contained almonds). Obviously.
I talked about the time that I left Rocket at my parent’s house or the epic parent fail in which I was caught throwing out my son’s beloved preschool art project.
I can’t forget the time I freaked out on my daughter over some spilled juice and how could I ever forget the misery that came from transitioning my firecracker of a daughter to the toddler bed? Total fail.
All in all, there are many parenting moments I choose to forget. We are moms, we are human. We are going to make mistakes. Tons of them. But this past weekend, I think this most recent mom fail really takes the cake.
Ready?
My kids were in the family room and I was flicking through the channels to find something for them to watch on television. You know, we have about a million channels and a million more shows on demand, but according to them there was nothing on TV. I landed on ABC’s “Family Channel” and Edward Scissorhands was on. We only caught the very end of the movie, roughly 20 minutes.
My kids thought it was some kind of Halloween special and I described the premise of the movie to them – how Edward was a good person even though he looked different. I actually thought it might be a great teachable moment, showing them that we shouldn’t judge people just by the way they look. But after they watched in horror as Edward accidently slayed his neighbors, I was beginning to wonder if this movie was appropriate for them.
Ummmmm, apparently not.
Yeah, it probably wasn’t one of my proudest parenting moments to date, considering both of my children had nightmares that night, waking up every hour claiming that the scary “scissor guy” was coming to get them.
I’m never going to make the mistake again of assuming that ABC Family movies that air at 5pm on a Sunday are a good idea.
And I’ve also invested in a truckload of nightlights for the immediate future.
Mom Fail #1,578.
The end.
Oh no! I remember loving that movie when it came out and the scenes when he is giving all the ladies those modern haircuts. I would probably make the same mom mistake! Thanks for the warning!!
I really love this movie, but obviously the kids were not ready to meet Edward! 😉
Oh no! When I think of that movie, I think of the part with Winona Ryder dancing in the ice chips/quasi snow. Not the slaying
Me too!! I love this movie and totally thought it would be a win/win – but boy was I so wrong! lol
Um, oops!
I remember watching Friday the 13th when I was far too young. BUT, I turned out okay. Not even afraid of the dark
I completely forgot about that part! I would have made the same mistake… come to think of it, I have. I let me kid watch the first few minutes of Batman: The Dark Knight – then I remembered how scary (and violent) the Joker is. oops! We switched it to cartoons
It’s funny how you forget things like that – we were at my boyfriend’s parents house and the WHOLEDAMFAMILY little to 80 was watching “Forrest Gump” thinking how wonderful a FAMILY movie it was. Until Forrest’s Mama was gettin’ busy with the principle. Ha!
See… I never thought of that movie as a bad one! Besides I can top that one… I had heard of this new vampire tv show that I wanted to watch, True Blood. So I turned it on and was going to watch it with the husband and daughter who at the time was 14 or 15 (she’s 16 now) and oh my… that first episode is not for kids… then again none of the episodes are! Now that is a mom fail of epic proportions!
Oh, no! I totally forgot that part of the movie too.
As an adult I often forget those questionable moments on screen, too. My husband and I love Wallace and Grommit (you know, the cute cartoon?) I saw it while flipping through the options on Netflix and set my toddlers down to watch.
I forget which one, but the one I showed them started with a murder!! OMG. Turned that off quick and talked about cartoons are make-believe. Yep. another parenting fail. My kids couldn’t stop asking about it.
I made the mistake of letting Moo see E.T. in June we didn’t even get halfway through it before she started crying. Now every time the commercial plays on the HUB she asks to have the channel changed. We parent and we learn.
Oh goodness…I would have probably made the same mistake…nightlights will probably be a good idea!
Nightmare! I was watching a programme on discovery channel about wedding dresses with my 4 year old. I popped to the kitchen and got back to Find a graphic clip being shown on a programme about giving birth. My daughter looked terrified and is now adamant she doesn’t want babies!
I’m so sorry. But I feel your pain. I invited another family over for dinner and rented “Babe” for all the kids. Just as we were sipping our coffee and the kids were watching in the other room, we heard a scream. The oldest boy in the group (about 8) came running out crying and shrieking and basically couldn’t handle the movie. Not my kid who is a girl and a good two years younger who can practically walk over puddles of blood. The Mom, to her credit, was a little embarrassed and surprised but boy did I feel like crap. Dessert was cut short, suffice it to say.
OMG I never laughed so hard in my life! The scissor man! God, I have made that mistake with the Goosebumps – then my son is crying that the werewolf is after him. I am a professional mom flunkee so I don’t think that’s too bad, after all, family channel should be safe!! Thanks for sharing!
Long before I was a Mum, I took some friends kids to see a theatre release of Fantasia. During the Night on Black Mountain scary bit I noticed a few mums rushing out of the cinema with their young kids. The kids looked a bit bewildered and maybe they were scared but not bellowing.
I thought at the time it was probably a mistake. Those kids were going to remember the scary bit with far more intensity than if they had stayed a couple of minutes and transitioned into the soothing peaceful Ave Maria section. Disney movies almost always have scary bits. But on the context of the whole thing they teach the kids that while bad things happen the good people have happy endings.
I wonder what would have happened with Edward Scissorhands if they had seen not just the last 20 minutes but the whole movie. If they had seen how lovable Edward is and how mean the bad guy was. If they had got to know the Edward who cut the ladies hair and trimmed the poodles BEFORE something bad happened. Heheh. Yes my kids have all watched it at a young age. Epic Mom Fail. I’m not counting. It would be like watching the Twitter stream of Ashton Kutcher…total blur.
Ohmygoodness! Sorry girl, but laughing over here because I would have done the exact same thing! {I pink puffy heart Johnny Depp and have zero memory of that scene?!}
Aak! I hope everyone feels -and sleeps!- better soon!
xo
Heather, I totally understand! I’m an epic mom failure everyday. I think ABC Family has A LOT of stuff that is really inappropriate! That show about the life of the American teen or whatever is all about sex and stuff.
I forget that, too – wacky Johnny never seems scary, does he?
This post is fantastic, though, as we all need a reminder that we – and everyone else – are human!
So sad I didn’t see you at BlogHer. Maybe someday!
hugs everyone makes mistakes, i remember when iwas young watching wizard of oz too then being totally freaked out when it came to the scene where the queen witch lady had all those heads in that room totally scared me will never watch that movie again.