to think it's high time somebody started an "I'm an imperfect mother" thread on here? Jeeez the number of perfectly perfect mums on here atm is quite scary

[emkana]

Okay I'll start

I'm not a perfect mother because

I lose my temper
I let them watch x factor and the cube on a Saturday night, and don't even read them a bedtime story after
I've taken them out of school for holidays

[OrmIrian]

I know no perfect mothers. I refuse to accept the possibility of their existence

[waitingforbedtime]

I get unreasonalby irritated by ds dawdling, it does my head in. He is only 2.5

[stonethecrows]

Thankyou for this post!! Having just walked through townn with my three, with two of them having tantrums, me practically crying, and tonnes of curtain twitching going on....it's good to know I'm not alone!!

[hatesponge]

QOD - I have a similar problem in getting my DS out of the house; every morning tends to revolve around me screaming 'FFS hurry up, the bus is going in 3 minutes - go, go, go' like a mad woman.

I am a horrible, shouty mummy a lot of the time. I have called them both stupid in the past and told them they are mean to me & make me sad

So I am far from perfect

[MillyR]

Wasn't sure how imperfect a parent I have been this morning as I was out with the dogs. I have been to check and DS is playing a violent xbox game, eating pear drops and is only wearing underwear. DD is at least entertaining herself with wooden vegetables but is wearing a cheerleader costume and a pink, sequined cowboy hat.

[skihorse]

Can I join in from a TTC pov? I fully expect to be a "slummy mummy", the kids will eat dog hair, get french-kissed by the aforementioned dogs. I'll probably get everything wrong and the best I'm hoping for is kind, literate and basic personal-hygiene despite being raised by a horseriding mum who will slap the dirt off and get caught saying "fuck".

[skihorse]

Trillian Do you have spy cameras in my home? You've just described my life pre-natal!

I'm not even a perfect person - how on earth I am to raise little people without fucking up I don't know.

But I'm glad this thread has been started - I suppose this is in a similar vein to the fact that very few post photos on fb where they're sat in front of the TV sans slap looking like shit or update their status to "Skihorse is still in her dressing-gown and is contemplating Findus crispy pancakes for dinner before crying herself to sleep."

[pingapengin]

I have very low expectations of myself, so in my eyes i am perfect

I bribe the kids with biscuits/chocolate

I turn a blindeye to sisterly fighting

I dont always know what they are up to, i am just happy they are quiet

I do get angry, say for fuck sake ALOT and have been known to over use the naughty step and on very pushed occasions have smacked bottoms.

[pingapengin]

and Controlled crying saved my eldest DD from a fate worse than death..

[victoriascrumptious]

I can top you all. I am pregnant and still smoking 5 rollies a day

[PinkTulips]

At the minute i'm a bad mummy because i've plonked my older two in front of tv with some jelly beans to keep them quiet as dd has been begging to do arty stuff all morning and i just can't face it right now. dd has a broken leg

The rest of the time i'm a bad mommy because i have a horrible temper and shout far too much, have no patience and snap alot and rely on the tv far too much (especially considering up until my last preg tv was off except for a few hours on sunday... i started using it more when suffering really bad morning sickness and got used to using it to distract them.

I don't jump out of bed the second they wake in the morning but let them play upstairs for ages before prising myself out of bed.

I give too many sweets.

I allow fighting to go on umless it's distubing my peace, and have been known to answer whinges of 'He hit me!' with 'Hit him back then'

I swear A LOT, oddly they haven't bothered picking it up but it's only a matter of time.

[Mamazon]

oh i am absolutly perfect.
the fact that no one else thinks so just proves the fact that they aren't

[ocdgirl]

well i used to be the perfect mum, never would i allow my child to dine at mac donalds and i certainly would never lose my temper and shout, swear or smack my child. my days would be filled with baking, arts and crafts then i would serve my child a healthy meal (which they would eat every scrap of) bath them and then tuck them into to bed for a lovely story, no tv whatso ever !! perfect !!! then everything changed and the problems began when i actually became a mum

bet i got you going there lmao x

[QOD]

hatesponge - will you be my friend?
(((hugs)))

[APoisonTree]

i don't know what 'The Cube' is!

[melmog]

Oh, I'm definately imperfect.

Dd1 now says "for fucks sake", "for gods sake", "leave me alone" and "I don't care what you do, I'm reading."

Yesterday whilst in the car, she said "why did you call that lady a twat?"

I seriously need to sort my potty mouth out.

She's just 3.

[EvilEdnasTwinSister]

Oooh and I thought I was the only imperfect mum on here!

I am not a "perfect" either. I do have a shout (virtually every morning) and lose my temper.

I swear (a lot) and allow them to watch TV, DVDs etc etc so that I can slob about a bit.

I drive the kids to school too.

And I do like a drink every now and then

[mummyhasnocar]

Oooh I like this I'll join in, I'm soooooooo imperfect.

I shout at them A LOT.

I swear a lot too.

They watch hours and hours of playhouse disney while I'm on MN doing important stuff on the laptop.

They eat a lot of crap.

I hardly ever let them have friends over as I can't be arsed dealing with someone else's kids too.

I drink every night.

DD1(6) is quite aquainted with emptying out the potty when dd2 has used it.

There's loads more that I can't think of right now.

[MoreCrackThanHarlem]

Ok, I'm no perfect mother. I lose my temper sometimes, sneak off to read paper/mn when I'm supposed to be playing schools, and am possibly guilty of giving in to moaning and being a bit of a pushover.

However, I'm gonna stick my neck on the line a little here, and say I hate all this competetive neglect. There are mothers I know who indulge in this type of contest- you know, 'oh I just leave little johnny to make his own dinner, I'm not missing Eastenders for anyone haha'.... 'really? Well little jimmy doesn't even eat dinner, he scavenges for scraps in our neighbour's bins!'

I think directing the word fuck at your children and calling them stupid is behaviour that needs to be changed, not passed off as 'normal' parenting, something that everyone does. Cos they don't.

[KIMItheThreadSlayer]

LOL more crack, so now instead of trying to out perfect every one now mumsneters are trying to out skank each other priceless

[emkana]

I am certainly not neglectful and in many ways I think I'm a good mother, and I'm proud of that. But I do make mistakes and what gets me on here, as I said before, is when a poster is obviously already feeling vulnerable and then gets comments along the lines of "your poor child".

[MovingOutOfBlighty]

I second that emkana.

I HATE the 'your poor dc' comments when the op already is very well aware they have been rubbish.

Fortunately though, as a perfect mother who is never screechy or intolerant I am able to allow everything to float over my head in soft focus.
Thank God for wine.

[chegirl]

I have found my niche at last !

I shout - a lot
I hate bored board games
Can only pay attention to a small child wittering for max 10 secs before I start with the 'umm, yes, thats nice dear'
Have been known to tell my DCs that mummy's special ice cream/sweets/cake is poisonous to anyone under 30
I often make up 'laws' in order to frighten small children e.g. You have to wear your school uniform jumper. Its the law, if you dont the police will get you'

I think I should stop before I reveal too much

[Mousey84]

DD and I have had pizza and popcorn for dinner 3 nights in a row...in front of the tv (its a movie weekend.)
I shout often.
I dont always follow through (treats or threats)
But its well balanced with good stuff, so its all ok.