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Original poster

Bad Mothers Club

67 replies

Clarinet60 · 28/02/2003 11:14

Anyone watch this item on This Morning this morning?
It was great, a real breath of fresh air, even the mum who left her 20 mnth old alone on a potty for half an hour and returned to a room and a dd smeared with poo.

Does anyone fancy exposing their own worst BadMamma moment? (I'll be admitting mine forthwith - just have to summon the courage....)

(Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if the founders are amongst us on mumsnet. If you are out there reading this, give us a clue.
Are you out there?)

OP posts:
leese · 28/02/2003 11:19

No Droile - not me, but I just saw them too - made me smile to myself! OK, we may not leave a 20mth old alone on a potty for half an hr whilst we went to read a magazine (if only because we may well anticipate what we'll come back to!), but got the general idea and applauded them for their frankness. Thoughtphilip Schofield was up his own a!e when he told them he'd initially thought 'good on you', but chnanged his mind, and now thinks they are just irresponsible..........
Oh really? And where are you Philip? At home providing 24 hr childcare, or in the Good Morning studio?

prufrock · 28/02/2003 11:20

Went to a wedding, had a really really bad hangover the next day. DH went downstairs to make coffee and get aspirin, leaving 6m dd on the bed with me "looking after" her. I was shaken from my hungover stupor by a big bang and wailing announcing that dd had learned to roll off the bed.

I've been wanting to get that off my chest for ages

leese · 28/02/2003 11:21

PS. Still trawling thru the archives of my 'bad mother' moments - too many and varied to catalogue here, so I'll try and come up with a few good ones!

expatkat · 28/02/2003 11:31

I picked ds up from nursery school and put him in the buggy. He said, 'Mummy, why aren't you strapping me in?' I responded that we were just going a short way, so it wasn't necessary. Two minutes later I accidentally rammed the buggy against the curb and ds flew a foot or two, landing on the pavement with a surprised look that is etched into my memory.

Original poster
Clarinet60 · 28/02/2003 11:45

Yes Leese, I thought philip was a total tw*t too.

OP posts:
breeze · 28/02/2003 12:30

At DS 3rd birthday party, I was dishing out the party bags and ballons and then someone appeared and asked who my DS belonged too as he was out in the street.

Marina · 28/02/2003 12:57

Ds and I went head over heels on a cobbled street in central London a few months ago (the afternoon of a Mumsnet meet-up - so kind of you all not to comment on the bloodstains). I was OK but he bit his lip and there was blood everywhere. The doorman at a nearby posh restaurant was incredibly kind and came rushing over with their first-aid kit to help me patch the poor little guy up. It obviously wasn't a stitching job and after a good swab with TCP (screams could be heard in Tottenham I should think) I asked ds what he would like to do - go home, or carry on to the Transport Museum as planned. He was so keen to go that we trailed around it looking like extras from ER and getting a lot of stares from concerned tourists. Ds did look as though he had been beaten up, and I did feel like a very bad mother.

willow2 · 28/02/2003 13:50

There's an accompanying website - www.badmothersclub.co.uk I think. Parts of it are quite funny.

Furball · 28/02/2003 14:21

I was carrying DS (then a few weeks old) in his moses basket and accidently dropped one of the handles. DS tumbled out onto the bedroom floor landing on his hands and knees with the matress landing on his back.

JanZ · 28/02/2003 15:14

Leaving open the outside door when leaving the house very early one morning, so that dh "lost" ds, who was only 17 months old at the time and had only just learnt to walk. He eventually found him standing at the other side of the house next door, wailing, dressed in just his babygro, soaked to the skin, at 7.15 am. He'd crawled out of the "cat flap" (at that point just a pane of glass removed from the door) in the inner door, walked down the driveway, along the road and up the next driveway!

Oops!

Gizmo · 28/02/2003 16:08

Oh ho, just had a look at the bad mothers website and I like the look of that - just going to check out the talk section (bet it's not as good as mumsnet, though ).

Far too many events for me to mention but I think letting ds (aged around 9 months) eat half the soil in my salad patch before I noticed counts quite high. Sadly our garden is bordered by a footpath so several neighbours had walked by to be greeted by a very muddy grin! No-one seemed to believe I was trying to boost his immune system.

Marina · 28/02/2003 16:30

Gizmo, you grow your own salad? How can you possibly call yourself a bad mother?!

Gizmo · 28/02/2003 16:44

You don't think I can get ds to eat it, do you? Oh no, he's much happier with mud (with added worms for protein, of course)

SoupDragon · 28/02/2003 16:47

I know I've done bad things but I can't think of a single one at the moment!

According to the staff at Play Town in Croydon, today I "allowed" my 2yo DS to become trapped behind/under their equipment in the zipped off no go area.

Oh, and I found DS1 playing with a bottle of nail glue once - I got to him before he managed to stick himself to anything but it was on his fingers. It's like superglue... I'm sure there are many many more things I've wiped from my memory.

GeorginaA · 28/02/2003 16:52

Bah SoupDragon - they shouldn't have no go areas accessible to a 2 year old - that's their bad design!!

Original poster
Clarinet60 · 28/02/2003 16:54

The talk section isn't as good as mumsnet, but they are slating This Morning off like mad. Quite funny.

I think one of my worst ones was just after DS2 was born. We went to the seaside for the day and took DS1 to the funfair. There was a little ride and we queued for ages. All the other children went through the gate and climbed onto their horse or truck, etc, by themselves, so I let DS (3 yrs old) choose his own ride. He was so entranced that he chose a horse, then changed his mind and went for a car. Not looking where he was going, he stepped straight off the edge of the platform and caught his ear on a tin box, in front of everyone. Screams of pain, everyone staring at me as I carried him off (DH was cradling DS2 and trying to sink into the ground), I felt like the biggest heel on earth and I'll never forget it.

OP posts:
breeze · 28/02/2003 17:10

After a indian one night I had been so tired/drunk that I didn't even bother to take the plate out. The following morning I bought DS then aged 8 months down stairs, and I got him a bottle, only to come in and find him chomping away on an onion bhaji.

SoupDragon · 28/02/2003 17:28

No GeorginaA, you're wrong there: apparently I was meant to be with my child at all times. Eh??? Still, at least the sock police couldn't touch me this time - I put DS2s leather slippers on.

GeorginaA · 28/02/2003 17:52

EH?!!! Funny they only remember that rule when they're not selling you expensive (and slow!) cups of coffee and food! Gawd, I wouldn't expect any age child to wait that long while Mum got a cappuccino...

Those sorts of places are designed for the kids to run off and play while mum has a cup of tea. That's the whole point - otherwise why spend the money going there?!

leese · 28/02/2003 18:28

Letting dd crawl merrily around on the kitchen floor - only stopped her when I noticed jelly from the cat food round her mouth - little bugger won't eat anything I prepare. Wheres Anabel Karmel's recipe for kitty chunks?

Essie · 28/02/2003 18:53

This made me laugh - just glad it was dh and not me! He was walking around the bra section at Woolworths (S.Africas version of Marks and Sparks)looking for nursing bras whilst I was in hospital. He hadn't strapped ds1 in the buggy and hadn't noticed him fall out and proceeded to push forward. Suddenly an almighty scream came forth, there was ds1 under buggy, and a husband who was trying to be inconspicious(sp) was the now the centre of attention with Mothers and Grannies running to the rescue of the poor child! He was totally embarressed, not sure if he has recovered - hasn't offered to buy any more bras tho'!!!

Linzoid · 28/02/2003 20:42

Unfortunately i too have done the thing with the buggy, only going a very short distance, no straps on and woops..hit a curb! I once was chatting away in a soft play place, ds happily playing. He said he was going to the toilet for a poo and i said that i would be there to wipe his bum in a minute and forgot all about him.. for lets say quite a while. I really felt awful, it was an engrossing conversation i was having at the time tho!

Lara2 · 01/03/2003 20:07

JanZ you made me laugh so much!!! I too have hideous moments. The funniest was when ds1 was about 6, climbing in my mum's trees and had kept yelling at us all afternoon while we were chatting. After loads of "Brilliant!! Super!!" comments we could hear him shouting "Mummy!! Mummy!!" again and didn't take much notice. After about 5 minutes I called back "What!!??!", looked over my shoulder into the garden to see ds hanging by the chest of his sweatshirt which had got caught on a branch when he lost his footing!!!! In mitigation, he was only 3 feet off the ground, but still......

Bugsy · 04/03/2003 11:22

Being sick on my baby dd. Had a few too many glasses of wine at a dinner party, arrived home and went up to feed dd. While feeding the poor mite got massive bed spin and the overwhelming urge to chunder. Seized a blanket from her cot and barfed in it, while she was still feeding. Wiped her down (not much sick on her), popped her back in her cot - blanket in washing machine and didn't even tell dh of my dreadful behaviour. Cheeks are burning with mortification whilst I type!

katierocket · 04/03/2003 11:51

Lara 2 I laughed out load at that one!