Parenting Fail Contest from @keciah

@keciah has put on a contest and I felt I just HAD to join.

https://steemit.com/parentingfail/@keciah/win-3sbd-contest-tell-us-your-biggest-parenting-fail

She asks that we tell her our "biggest parenting fail". Oh the horror of telling so many people how I don't live up to the standards I have put for myself, as a parent. The monstrosity of what others will think of me as a parent has totally paralyzed me for sure. Will my followers ever look at me the same after they know the truth? What about my family here on Steemit? (i.e. @enternamehere and @jschindler ) Will they be able to overcome my past failures and believe in my ability to be a mother? But, most importantly, will my son Caleb ever forgive me for my failing parenting moments?

Well, I sure hope so because here it goes ....

I have had many parent mishap moments in Caleb's life and I will not deny it. I have taken homework out of his bag to then forget to put it back in and left him homework-less at school. Of course with email and text messaging these days, that trouble was easily avoided when I was able to let the teacher know before Caleb even made it to the classroom. I have left home without giving Caleb his lunch or snack, again easily avoided trouble when the school is able to makeup for my forgetfulness and provide him with lunch and snacks.

Those were just minor parental mistakes as I see them. But my actual #parentfail moment came when Caleb was about 3 years old and potty training was taking a turn for the....odd. While he was potty trained and could easily go into the bathroom and relive himself just fine, he at times, would get distracted and not want to take the time to go into the bathroom. He would be playing with his toys and decide that while he needed to go pee, he didn't want to leave his toys. He would just stand up, yank down his pants and "go" wherever he was standing....just like a dog hiking his leg up.

I went from potty training a child to house training a child.

But anyways, one day Caleb and I had just got back from the grocery store and as soon as we walked in to the house, I asked him if he needed to go potty. He said "no". I asked him another time and after the second "no" I decided to get the groceries out of the car. I had Caleb sit in the living room and play with his toys while I unloaded the car. I can see Caleb in the living room from my driveway, I have to walk through the living room to get to the kitchen and my kitchen is just an exstention of my living room, so I can see him the entire time.

When I finished with my groceries, I was ready to sit down and rest when I saw a puddle in the living room floor. We did not have a dog at that time and the hamster couldn't make such a puddle that size, so I naturally called Caleb. When I asked him if he peed in the floor he just stood there and said nothing. So I took that as a "yes".

I gave him a towel and said to clean it up. I went to get my own towel and cleaner to help him and when I came back, he looked up at me with sad eyes and said "mommy, it won't clean up". I looked over and realized the puddle had become even bigger....over twice the size as before.

It was then that I realize that it had NOTHING to do with Caleb. My poor baby was cleaning up something he had nothing to do with. Our hot water heater had busted from the laundry room and it was leaking into our living room floor. Luckily the water had a ways to travel so it was cold by the time it came to the living room floor, and did not burn Caleb.

If there was ever a mommy guilt moment in my 7 years of being a mom it was at that very moment. I swept up my sweet little baby and cuddled him and hugged him, apologizing the entire time, all while the water continued to flood our living room floors.

Because I have the best kid in the world, I was forgiven instantly and was reinstated to again being the "best mommy ever", according to Caleb. But, I decided then and there to really look at the entire situation before ever taking action with Caleb and I have lived up to that ever since. I learned my lesson for sure and had a severe mommy guilt for a very long time afterwards.

So there you have it, my Parenting Fail moment. I want to thank @keciah for hosting this contest, as well as encourage all of you parents out there to share your parent fail moments. I think we all will feel better once we realize that we are all human and make mistakes.

That's all I have for today, until next time, take care!!

-Kim