Ten things I swore I'd never do as a mom... and the reasons I did them

By Lauri Jon

10. Wear the same shirt two days in a row. And even sleep in it one night. (But, hey, I didn't leave the house that day.)

9. Let my daughter wear the same outfit two days in a row. (The laundry didn't do itself that week.)

8. Allow my daughter to wear her Disney Princess pajama top as a shirt after she slept in it. (She wouldn't let me take it off her and put a new shirt on. And now that she's two, I've gotta pick my battles.)

7. Let my daughter eat cookies for breakfast. (Well, at least she ate a waffle first.)

6. Open food in the grocery store and let my daughter eat while we shop. (Well it keeps her seated in the shopping cart and I get to finish all my grocery shopping. Plus she usually eats blueberries and not cookies, yea!)

5. Allow my daughter to eat dinner standing at the living room ottoman while she watched "Dora the Explorer." (At least she ate her dinner.)

4. Let my hair go for a week without washing it. (I think my record is actually a week and two days, but it's hard to get motivated to wash and dry it at 10:30 p.m.)

3. Allow my daughter to eat hot dogs for lunch three days in a row. (OK, one week it was four, but she also eats oranges, strawberries, grapes and blueberries three or four times a week.)

2. Use baby wipes to remove make-up and wash my face. (Whenever I've run out of Olay cleansing cloths and haven't made it to the drug store. At least it has Aloe.)

1. Wash only enough dishes to eat dinner on that evening and serve dry waffles for breakfast on paper towels the next morning. (The dishes didn't load themselves into the dishwasher again.)

What have you done that you'd swore you'd never do?

Lauri Jon is a forty-something-else mother and wife who lives with her family in California.

Comments

[Laurie]

Let's see...
1. "Virtually no TV or videos." How many viewings does it take to wear out a VHS tape? DVD?
2. "My children will only have junk food on special ocassions." Since Christmas, Sarah's had a piece of chocolate almost every day. My mother gave her a couple of those advent calendars after Christmas, so she begs for a piece daily. Damned grandparents! lol
3. "I will never leave the house without makeup." I think I broke that one by my 8th month of pregnancy.
4. "I can't understand how people can possibly ignore their child screaming like that. In PUBLIC, no less. I would just leave and come back later." Uh, yeah. I get it now.
5. I often use the same words and tone my mother used that grated on my nerves. I swore i'd never do that! It's pretty much daily that I do.
6. I never thought I'd leave the house knowing I had spit up on my shirt.

That's all I can think of right now.

[karrie]

I never really considered the possiblity, but I have used baby wipes on my own stinky bits in lieu of a shower. (I think they work just as well to remove makeup as any other product though.)

In terms of parenting I:

-was unable to breastfeed, and hated the act anyway. So I somewhat shamefully bought cases of the same substance my pregnant self had referred to as poison.

-have allowed my early-rising toddler son to watch the Pervy Purple Dinosaur so I could enjoy a cup of coffee while hot. On several occasions.

-allow same son to eat more fruit in lieu of green veggies.

-mocked other parent-child teams at Gymboree.

-thrown "Does a Kangaroo Have a Mother too?" against the playroom wall in response to the 32nd request to read it before 6am.

[Robin P]

Uhm.....what's the problem with this list? I just wonder why you had to explain the reasons you did these things. They all make sense to me without any explanation.

I've let Lillianna eat cake for breakfast because I serve it with a glass of milk. That's totally healthy.....right?

Ya,ya,I've worn an outfit and then slept in that shirt too....who cares? I use deodorant so it's perfectly acceptable....lol.

I think I've broken all your rules. I never did get the Mommy Handbook. It's too late now!!

[Susan]

Im guilty, guilty, guilty of practically your whole list...but not actually feeling guilty over those things - so I guess that would be another one!

1. Use a pacifier as, well, a pacifier for TWO YEARS.
2. Say, "I dont have time to clean up after you all day" the same tone and words my mother used to use!
3. Allow my son to play with the telephone because he insisted on it and he is two, and then try and explain to the cop who showed up at our door because he dialed 9-1-1 why I let him do such a thing!
4. Look the other way when my son dumped a box of raisins all over the not-so-clean carpet downstairs and then ate every single one off of it!
5. Buy into the latest cartoon craze of my son by outfitting him in the clothes, shoes, pjs, sunglasses - whatever they sell that will get him to want to get dressed!

[Tina]

Oh... are these things wrong?

[Kelly]

TV. My kids were never going to watch TV. That worked with child #1. When child #2 was born during the stressful tenure track, tv began slipping in (first via college girl babysitters). Now it is, "You want to watch Animal Planet for the 3rd straight hour? Sure, sweetheart."

[Wicked Stepmom]

(1) Go out of the house without makeup and unshowered. I've done it MANY times since becoming a Mom. On Christmas Eve, not only had I not showered, but I also had breastmilk stains on my shirt (AND no bra!) and peanut butter on my collar (which dripped from the sandwich I scarfed down while nursing my infant prior to running out the door to do shopping for hubby).

(2) Make a separate dinner of plain macaroni for my 3 year old while the rest of the family eats something else (he WILL outgrow this phase, right?!).

(3) Allow my 3 year old to stay in his pajamas all day (I was recovering from my c-section and hubby had to go back to work).

(4) Respond to questions of "Why?" with "BECAUSE I SAID SO."

(5) Use the TV as a babysitter (I had a rough first tri-mester, and long c-section recovery!).

[Sheri]

Ooo, guilty of almost all of them (except the hair thing). Wait until they're teenagers and doing the things that you swore your children weren't ever going to do!

[chris]

I have done all of these too. Though I usually put the waffle, or sandwich, directly on the table. It always ends up there anyway ;-)

And my hairdresser says I have the healthiest hair from not overwashing it... if she only knew.

[Kris]

Having spent a combined 27 1/2 years doing parenting, I have done many of the things you listed. I had to laugh when I read about the waffle on the paper towel. My kids continue to do that and they are 15 and 12!

How about willingly cooked a peanut butter omlette (OK, not once, but many times) because, hey, protein is protein and they don't have to watch their waistlines.

[Kris]

Yell and whine so that I sound like I'm the same age as my kids. (Hey, it doesn't happen every day, but it happens.)

[Angela Giles Klocke]

Let's see...I've been parenting for almost 16 years. Yeah, that would be ONE HONKIN' LONG LIST!