It’s time to face the music, moms. None of us are flawless and this post is here to remind you that there’s no rule that says you have to be perfect.
We’ve all had our fair share of mom fails and it’s time we start viewing those epic fails as epic wins instead!
I’ll be the first to admit that I could write my own autobiography titled, Mom Fails: Chronicles of a Repeat Offender. Almost daily (if not multiple times a day) I find myself in a pickle over something I did or didn’t do that makes me wonder whether or not I am cut out for this mom business.
Truth: I’ve had so many questionable moments as a mom that I’ve had to take a serious look at my favorite four-letter words that always seem to make a grand entrance during those, “What the heck were you thinking!?” moments. I’ve had to make a conscious effort to refine my vocabulary into sweeter words like sugar, fluff, and donuts so I don’t bury myself alive in profanity before my children start kindergarten.
However, even though cussing in front of your children is technically a total mom fail, I find a smidge of relief knowing I’m not alone. While the occasional slip-up may occur, I don’t cuss nearly as much as I used to every time I step on a Lego or stub my toe on the coffee table. (Ultimately, less is more in my case, turning this kind of epic mom fail into an epic mom win!)
It’s no secret that my list of mom fails is utterly gargantuan. Granted, some fails are a little more difficult to chuckle at than others; but rest assured there’s always a silver lining. Through my experience, there are two categories of mom fails. 1.) There are the fails that have a direct impact on your child and 2.) There are the fails that directly impact you because you’re the mom trying to juggle life like a circus clown.
Ready to relate? Have you ever…
- Locked your child in the car while it was running, with the spare set of keys inside the vehicle?
- Called your child by your dog’s name while trying to rescue them from a potential disaster?
- Left your child’s favorite blanket at school and didn’t realize it until bedtime rolled around?
You guessed it! I’ve shamelessly done all of the above, and YES, I did have to call my local rescue team to unlock my car and retrieve both sets of keys. (FYI – my daughter slept through the entire event, opened her eyes and laughed at me when I reached in to make sure she was OK. I, however, was unable to find the humor in that situation at the time.) The silver lining: I learned that day my town’s rescue team response time is just as fast a NASCAR pit stop, so in the event I have a “real emergency,” I know I can rely on help arriving quickly!
As if those mom fails weren’t enough, I’m also guilty of…
- Wearing my underwear inside-out, or backward. (Those cheeky-style undies get me every time. Keep laughing – you’ve done it too! If you haven’t done it, do it. You’ll see what I mean.)
- Leaving my travel mug on the roof of my car and not noticing I lost my coffee until halfway to work.
- Packing my lunch in my daughter’s lunchbox and forgetting my purse at home.
I’ll be honest, in each of the above examples I wanted to pull my hair out and bury my head in the sand. Seriously – I didn’t understand why my ba-donk-a-donk felt unusually plump the day I wore my underwear backward. Finding out I lost my favorite travel mug down Route 104 was almost as devastating as starting my day without any coffee. And realizing my daughter got to enjoy my lunch was one thing, but forgetting my purse at home the same day so I couldn’t even buy myself a snack from the vending machine was a total bust.
However, even those epic mom fails turned into epic mom wins! As it turns out:
- My rear didn’t actually grow 2 sizes overnight – Putting my “cheekies” on the right way proved to literally turn that stress right around. (Now I no longer get dressed in the dark!)
- I was reminded by my colleagues that there’s always free coffee in the office and I was able to come to terms with the fact that like all material things, my travel mug too, was replaceable.
- I saved myself from a few unnecessary calories (and splurging on vending machine munchies) the day I sent my lunch to school with my daughter AND forgot my purse.
The moral of this confession booth post is: Surround yourself with other moms who aren’t afraid to fail… Because when you’re not afraid to fail, you’re not afraid to win!
Now it’s your turn. It’s time to fess up to your epic mom fails and share with us how you turned them into epic mom wins instead!
Love the humor and honesty here. I definitely locked my kiddo in the car with the keys inside. It was a very weird fluke thing and I was a total panic and wreck the whole time waiting. He was way more chill than I was. We made a big “peek-a-book” game out of it while we waited for someone to rescue us, haha, but man, I was feeling like a serious failure. Glad to know I’m not alone!