Terrible, but so funny! If it makes you feel better, I have a friend who drove off on a family outing and it wasn't until she was down the street that she and her husband realized their baby, third child, was still sitting in his carseat in their front hall.

Sorry we weren't more reassuring in our badness during your time of need. All I can say is, it's not THAT bad to forget your kid's lunch. I mean, think of it as a way to help him "problem solve." Like that show Survivorman. He had to figure out where to get some chow all by himself. Tough love and all that.

Susan at Working Moms Against Guilt
http://www.workingmomsagainstguilt.com

Ha! I will try to look at it that way; it was just one of those completely deflated moments when you are sideswiped by your own failings. My son seemed to forget it ever happened, and was probably secretly overjoyed that he could have Veggie Booty for lunch.

Krisitn,

I dropped off my wife, son, sister-in-law and a friend of my wife's and drove around a "few" NY blocks before finding a parking spot about a half hour later. Ran the 4 blocks into the restaurant on a hot summer day, to have my wife ask me: "Haven't you forgotten something? Where's Zachary?" (at that time our almost 2 year old) whom she expected to see waddling in behind me. He had been asleep for about an hour and not hearing him I had locked the car and run to the restaurant. It is amazing how fast you can run when you need to and how quickly a car gets hot!

Welcome to the world of blogging!

So scary! Baby in hot car is just about the worst parental fear, isn't it? Another friend once locked her child in the car when he was too young to open the door. Basically we should just never let the kids get anywhere near the car.

I know this post is older but I had to tell this story. When our oldest, and only at that time, son was in Kindergarten he told us there was no school that day. We thought he was just trying to get out of going to school and dropped him off early while we went to a staff meeting for work. A while later I called a friend that lived across the street from the school to see if she could look out to check on him. He was having a blast playing ALONE in the playground...in the snow....IT WAS VETERAN'S DAY!!! Do we ever live these things down. I better go make that 30 year old son some cookies and mail them off to him and his wife!!! :P

That is a hilarious story--made my day. I'm sure it didn't seem hilarious at the time. Almost as clueless was the day for us two winters ago when my two boys and I headed off for school and a teacher who lives two doors down and doesn't even teach in our town asked "Didn't you know it was a snow day?" Duh. Somehow even though I had two kids in the elementary school, we did not get a call on the phone tree.

Laurajane, your story was just too funny! I am sure your stomach must have done five dozen flips, though, once you talked with your neightbor.
Like Sammy's mom, I too locked our daughter in our car when she was about 2. Fortunately I had not left our driveway, but I freaked out anyway! I did not let her see me freaking, though...I would run up to her window, smile and give her the "one more minute' signal then I would turn and run back into the house. I was trying to get ahold of my husband or my mom. I finally reached my mom who was at work. She arrived at our house within about 5 minutes. The second she got out of the car I started crying. Of course our daughter was fine, in fact she never even caught on that anything was wrong.
She turns 15 in two weeks and we often laugh about this story!

The scariest bad mom moment of my life happened last Halloween. Entering Walt Disney World.. Myself, Happy Three Kids, Husband, Aunt, Uncle, Neice, Nephew and one grandmother, Children in Costumes, ready to trick or treat with the Mouse. Huge show taking place in front of castle, stopped to take a peak.. Middle Child, Daughter, has to go to bathroom, of course because we've already been there only 5 MINUTES!! Okay, quick everyone let's find a bathroom.... a block, away.. where is oldest child... WE LEFT HIM BEHIND, ALONE, IN THE CENTER OF THE WORLD'S HAPPIEST PLACE, IN THE MIDDLE OF THE LARGEST CROWD I THINK COULD HAVE EVER BEEN THERE. Yes Gary, it's insane how fast one can run when it comes to the safety and insecurity of a scary parenthood moment. He was crying, he was already with two disney employees and walkie talkies.. It was probably a minute that felt more like an hour. This year, we went again, but this time, we had 11 adults and five children ALL WEARING BRIGHT YELLOW!!!! I had flashbacks as we entered main street, but he and I held hands all the way and we walked past that castle together leaving that scary moment behind. Happy Halloween to you all!

When my son was about 2 or 3 I was driving him to daycare and he said -"hey, you forgot to feed me breakfast!" My reaction? I cracked up. I thought it was pretty darn funny. In the past 3 years whenever I've told that story, 90% of the time the reaction has been one of horror. That A) I forgot to feed my pretty-darn-young-child and B) that I was so amused by it. The 10% of the time that people laugh too, I know I'm going to get-along with this person.

ps- I did find him something edible to get him through to lunch.

Stuff happens. Kids are used to this stuff happening and they are pretty good about sharing at lunch. I once confused a "hot lunch" day with a "packed lunch" day so my oldest had no lunch with her, just a beverage and a napkin. Everybody at the lunch table shared. Someone even gave her a full-sized MilkyWay bar. She is 18 now and it happened when she was 6. She isn't scarred and doesn't blame me nor do I feel badly about it (anymore). She said it was one of the best lunches she ever had!

no crime. I'm pretty sure he would have let you know if it really bothered him! I'm only 17 months into motherhood and have made plenty of silly goofs. We remember everything most of the time...there just isn't room for everything ALL of the time!

Where does this rate on the Bad Mother scale? I forgot to pick my child up from kindergarten. It wasn't the beginning of school, and nothing important was happening that day. It was a Tuesday in the middle of the school year. I had picked her up every school day up 'til then. I just didn't go get her. Luckily, she is a very social child, and had a great time with the afternoon class, but the teacher definitely wondered about my fitness for motherhood after that day.

Children feel the love from their Mamas even if they had a mixed up day- it's ok-sometimes life has those kinds of days-you are teaching your children you make mistakes too, but you love them them even if life gets a bit hectic and stressed out -it's normal to have mistakes, we live through them.

Was he dressed? Did he know you love him when he left for school? Trust me, he won't need therapy for this one.

Every mom has forgotten lunch at least once - it is totally lightweight! (The hot car scenarios, listed below are truly horrifying as more than 2 dozen children died last year in hot cars in this country.)
The thing my boys have yet to forgive me for is oversleeping on the FIRST DAY of Junior High. I am normally up by 6 a.m. but on this all important day slept until 7:50! School began at 7:48. To top matters off, the care would not start and we had to walk to school, fortunately only 2 blocks. One boy actually asked me as we walked, "Mom is this the kind of thing that you never live down?" The classmates have forgotten it, but I never will!

I am a stay at home mom and i love my children very much. With that said, i give my children responsibilities in their lives. I make the lunches, it is their job to remember to take them from the frig. I also send money into the school, in case they forget their lunch, they will eat that day. I think parents shouldn't sweat the small stuff, my motto is shoot from the hip. I have three boys that will be responsible young adults, at least i hope.

With everything moms have to do to get kids ready for school, i think it was just a slip up...i would have either called the school and asked they loan him the money for the day and i would send it in the next day or taken the money or lunch to him on my way to work..

Guilt. I still live with the feelings of inadequacy from when my youngest son was at nursery school and apparently going through a growth spurt. I sent him with a lunch, but the containers came back with a happy face note from the teachers that said, "Mommy, help! I need more food!" I called the school and they said he'd been racing through his food and was still so hungry he was eating food from other kids' lunches. Poor little guy!

Count me guilty as well! Your story takes me back to all the times I didnt pack enough bottles of formula or enough diapers when my girls were infants on weekend trips. Oh the impending guilt that was to come when I finally had to tell my husband the real reason we needed to stop at the nearest grocery store. Not that I need to use the restroom, but to recoop my parental skills on aisle 8.

My more recent "bad mom Moment" comes as my kids came home one evening with "I need Lunch Money Stickers" on their shirts courtesy of the lunchroom. I only noticed this after we'd gone to the doctors, grocery store, and to visit a friend in the hospital. Then I realize days later one of the stickers had never been removed when my youngest undressed that night, so I washed and dried the shirt with " I need lunch money semi permanently embedded in the clothing!

We survived our parents' mistakes and I'm pretty sure our kids will, too. There are enough big problems to worry about -- don't let the little mistakes we all make weigh heavily on your mind.

Oh please. If that's the biggest of her parental worris, she's doing GREAT!!!

The Child Will Live.

The other day I took my three and a half year old's shirt off, as she has dribbled juice all down the front. "Let me grab you a fresh one," I chirped as I skipped off to the laundry room. On my way to get the shirt I breezed through our kitchen (using the term loosely as it is post-demo and pre-rehab) I quickly loaded the dishwasher and scoured the counters. Then I went into the bathroom/laundry room to get the shirt, but of course I stopped to Ajax the counter, match some socks and I might have taken the tweezers to my eyebrows quickly. By the time I got back to my daughter 15 minutes had passed, she was peppered with goosebumps and I didn't even have a shirt for her. I'd take a forgotten lunch over that.

Amanda

http://lifewithbriar.blogspot.com
http://toddlywinks.blogspot.com

Quit being so smug.